"The rules of confrontation on the southern border between Lebanon and Israel remain unchanged, but there are no international guarantees that can reassure us," said outgoing Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati today, in a televised interview with Turkish channel TRT relayed by Serail on X (formerly Twitter).
"With this criminal mentality that the Israeli enemy has, which kills children, women and the elderly, which forces emigration and destruction, what guarantees can be given?" he continued.
"We don't want war and we demand peace, but at the same time we want no one to desecrate Lebanese territory," he added.
The Serail concludes by stating that Mikati "wishes to prevent Lebanon from entering into bloody battles."
(Photo credit: YouTube/@TRTArabi)
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks, following a hostages-"prisoners" swap deal between Hamas and Israel, during a press conference in Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA, Nov. 26, 2023. (Credit: Tom Brenner/Reuters)
The village Ain Ibl has seen about 70% of its 4000 inhabitants leave, according to the mayor, Imad Lallous.
As we arrive in the village the streets are notably quiet, apart from the sounds of bells and cars rolling up for Sunday mass. The Christian town has not been directly targeted by Israeli strikes. However the mayor tells L’Orient Today’s Olivia Le Poidevin that 8 rockets have fallen in the town, believed to be the result of a misfire from Hezbollah.
“The last weeks have been very difficult. We have seen rockets hit two houses. The drones above us never stop," the mayor adds.
Throughout the day, our team has heard the intense mosquito-like sound of drones circulating above in the sky.
“It has been horrible. Almost everyone left and I am worried that if the war continues people may not come back. Those who have stayed, they are families of elderly people. They cannot afford to go to Beirut. Other families have lost their income. This is olive harvest season and we lost two thirds of what was supposed to be collected. The knock on impact is that people don’t have money to pay for food.”
He says a contingency plan has been put in place if the war continues. “We are hoping to get some more aid. But this is not enough. We have no shelters so we are trying to make a plan to use some basements.”
In the photo is a site in Ain Ibl where the mayor says a misfired Hezbollah rocket landed. (Credit: Olivia Le Poidevin/L'Orient Today)
In Ain Ibl, residents are assessing and repairing the damage caused by Hezbollah rocket fire that veered off course.
Wadih Diab had left his house ten minutes before a rocket hit it a few weeks ago. "Thank God, when the rocket fell, no one was there, so we escaped with our lives," this resident confided to our journalist Lyana Alameddine.
Wadih explains that six rockets fell on his property, three of which failed to explode. This weekend, he repaired one of the damaged walls.
"It's Hezbollah ... who else is waging war? Or the Palestinian factions, or the Amal movement ... who else? These rockets came from Lebanon," added Wadih.
Update from Olivia Le Poidevin, who is with our team of journalists in southern Lebanon: "We have passed through a number villages on our journey through the south, on day three of the truce. It appears there is a lot more life in Aita al-Shaab than the other villages we have visited. A couple of cafes are open, and some villagers are walking around their homes. A number are still tidying up the debris of shells that have hit the village in recent weeks. Though, there is no certainty yet that the people returning will be staying. All eyes are on what happens with the truce."
Image: (Credit: Olivia Le Poidevin/L'Orient Today)
Wafika and Hassan Jawad arrived this morning in Aata al-Shaab, but they do not intend to stay: their house was hit by a strike.
Image: (Credit: Olivia Le Poidevin/L'Orient Today)
Israeli troops killed eight Palestinians over a 24-hour period from Saturday to Sunday in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry says. Click here for more.
Image: Children find their way amid the debris of a damaged building following an overnight Israeli incursion on Nov. 26, 2023. Five people were killed by Israeli army fire in Jenin, the ministry said, during an incursion by a large number of armored vehicles into the city, which was recently the scene of the deadliest Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank in almost 20 years. (Credit: Zain Jaafar/AFP)
Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem says the prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel would not have happened if it wasn't for the "steadiness of the resistance." During a commemoration of the killing of the son of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc head Mohamad Raad, who died in an Israeli strike, Qassem said that today is "the time of resistance and victories, and during this time we will not allow arrogant countries and Israel to dictate the borders and path to our freedom."
Image: Photo sent by our correspondent in south Lebanon, Muntasser Abdallah
Voices from southern Lebanon
Rosa Hassan Srour, 67, is a resident of Aita al-Shaab.
She has not left her village despite the cross-border clashes that erupted on Oct. 8.
"We will not leave our land. I tell people who don't have children to stay and resist, to preserve our land and our homes," she says, adding that day by day, she hasn't grown more afraid; she's grown stronger.
For Rosa, this war will "mark the end of the Zionists."
During the fighting, "neighborhood boys" have helped her bring in food and medicine. "Sometimes I cooked for them; I made them a mloukhiyeh," she says, but adds that she has had almost no electricity at home.
Rosa has spent much of her time over the past seven weeks cleaning up debris from the strikes. She even has a cake box filled with shrapnel.
Mohammad, a 10-year-old boy, has also stayed in the village. “Samidoun [we resist]. I’m not afraid,” he confides.
Image: Rosa Hassan Srour, who has not left Aita al-Shaab since fighting began on Oct. 8. (Credit: Olivia Le Poidevin/L'Orient Today)
Image: On the road to Aita al-Shaab are the remains of what appears to be a house, destroyed in a strike. On the ground are cans of tuna. The window frames are broken; their panes have shattered. (Credit: Olivia Le Poidevin/L'Orient Today)
On day three of the truce, L’Orient Today journalists Lyana Alameddine, Lucile Wassermann and Olivia Le Poidevin are in southern Lebanon, visiting villages as people return to their homes for the first time in weeks.
Image credit: Olivia Le Poidevin/L'Orient Today
The Palestinian prisoners freed overnight are all women and people under the age of 19. The most prominent Palestinian released is Israa Jaabis, 37, who was convicted of detonating a gas cylinder in her car at a checkpoint in 2015, wounding a police officer. She was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Click here for more.
Image: Palestinians prisoners (wearing grey jumpers) cheer among supporters after being released from Israeli jails in exchange for hostages released by Hamas from the Gaza Strip, in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank early on Nov. 26, 2023. (Credit: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)
Our journalists Lyana Alameddine, Olivia Le Poidevin and Lucille Wassermann met yesterday with residents of southern Lebanon who had returned to their villages amid the four-day truce that began Friday morning. Their report can be read here.
Image: The remains of a car, which caught fire after Israeli air strike in the village of Dhayra, southern Lebanon, Saturday Nov. 25. (Credit: Olivia Le Poidevin/L'Orient Today)
