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As part of the Alto El Fuego Agreement between Hezbollah and Israel on November 27, it is assumed that the Israeli army retires for a 60 -day period that ends on Sunday. Israel is likely to lose that deadline.
Israeli soldiers ensure an obstacle in Kfar Kila as the deadline for withdrawal arrives. (AFP)
The Israeli troops opened fire in the south of Lebanon on Sunday, killing 10 residents and a Lebanese soldier, health officials said when hundreds of people tried to return to their homes on the deadline for Israel to retire.
Israel was sure to lose the deadline of Sunday, which is part of a high fire agreement that ended its war with the Hezbollah group backed by Iran two months ago.
The agreement that entered into force on November 27 said that the Lebanese army should be deployed together with the United Nations Peace Forces in the South while the Israeli army retired for a period of 60 days.
That period ends on Sunday.
The Ministry of Health of Lebanon said that the Israeli forces opened fire against “citizens trying to return to their villages,” killing 11 and wounding 83.
The Ministry’s toll includes a Laban Army soldier, who also announced his death and said that the Israeli fire had injured another soldier.
The AFP journalists said the convoys of vehicles transporting hundreds of people, some flying hezbollah flags, tried to reach several villages despite the continuous presence of the Israeli army.
“We will return to our villages and the Israeli enemy will leave,” even if it costs lives, said Ali Harb, a 27 -year -old trying to go to Kfar Kila.
The residents held the portraits of Hassan Nasrallah
You could also see residents who go on foot and motorcycle towards the devastated border city of Mays al-Jabal, where Israeli troops are still parked.
Some held portraits of the murdered leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, while women dressed in blacks carried photos of family members killed in the war.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee had issued an earlier message on Sunday to residents of more than 60 villages in the south of Lebanon who told them not to return.
Speaking from the border city of Aita Al-Shaab, Hezbollah’s legislator, Hassan Fadlallah, acclaimed a television appearance “the return of residents despite threats and warnings.”
The Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, the former head of the Army who assumed the position earlier this month after a two -year vacancy in office, asked residents to maintain a cold head and “trust the Lebanese army,” that he wanted to “guarantee his safe returns to your homes and villages.”
On Saturday, the army had said that the delay in the implementation of the agreement was the “result of the procrastination in the withdrawal of the side of the Israeli enemy.”
A joint statement of the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon and the Chief of the UN Peace Maintenance Mission on Sunday acknowledged “that the timelines planned in the comprehension of November have not been fulfilled.”
“As seen tragically this morning, the conditions are not yet in their place for the safe return of citizens to their villages along the blue line,” the statement said, referring to the border. He urged residents to “have caution.”
Israeli forces have abandoned the coastal areas of southern Lebanon, but are still present in east areas.
The Fire Alto Agreement stipulates that Hezbollah withdraws his forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and dismantled any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
But the office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Friday that “the agreement has not yet been completed by the Lebanese state”, so the withdrawal of the military would continue beyond the deadline of Sunday.
The Lebanese army said he was “ready to continue his deployment” as soon as Israel left.
The Lebanese caregiver, Najib Mikati, called Sunday for the sponsors of the Alto El Fuego agreement, a group that includes the United States and France, “force the Israeli enemy to retire.”
Israeli forces carry out demolitions
The Lebanese state media have reported that Israeli forces have carried out demolitions in the villages they control.
Aoun spoke on Saturday with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron about the “need to force Israel to respect the terms of the agreement”, added that “he must” end their successive violations, including the destruction of border villages. “
Macron’s office said the French president had asked all parties that the high fire honors his commitments as soon as possible.
The fragile truce has generally remained, even when the sides at war have repeatedly changed accusations of violations.
The agreement ended two months of large -scale war that had followed almost a year of low intensity exchanges.
Hezbolá began exchanging cross -border fire with the Israeli army on the day after the attack of October 7, 2023 against Israel for his Palestinian ally Hamas, who triggered the war in Gaza.
Israel’s campaign delivered a series of devastating blows against Hezbollah’s leadership, including his former Chief Nasrallah.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a FEED – AFP union news agency)
- Location :
Beirut, Lebanon