“WHOLE VILLAGE” RETURNING
The Lebanese army said that since Monday it had deployed in 11 southern border villages and other areas which Israeli troops had vacated.
The official National News Agency said two people were found alive in Kfar Kila, three months after contact was lost. One was a Hezbollah fighter thought to have been killed.
The news agency said “enemy forces” set off a powerful explosion outside the village of Kfarshuba.
UN envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and the UN peacekeeping force said that at “the end of the period set” for Israel’s withdrawal and the Lebanese army’s deployment, any further “delay in this process is not what we hoped would happen”.
In a joint statement, they said it was a violation of the Security Council resolution that ended a previous war between Israel and Hezbollah.
In Lebanon, the cost of reconstruction is expected to top $10 billion, while more than 100,000 people remain displaced, according to UN figures.
Despite the devastation, returning resident Zein said his fellow villagers were adamant about going home.
“The whole village is returning, we will set up tents and sit on the ground” if need be, he said.
