A man surveys the destruction left by an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, on Nov. 29, 2024. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — An Israeli force, consisting of four tanks and two bulldozers, entered one of the western neighborhoods of the town of Khiam, in Marjayoun district, early afternoon on Friday. The Israeli army had not reached this neighborhood during the fighting and, on the third day of the cease-fire with Hezbollah, was trying to advance.
Shortly after, the Israeli army was spotted advancing into the main square of the village of Markaba, also in Marjayoun district, where they bulldozed the area and blocked roads. The second point in the 13-point cease-fire agreement stipulates that "Israel will not carry out any military offensive against targets in Lebanon, whether on land, in the air, or at sea."
Israeli bulldozers were also spotted uprooting olive trees near the al-Abara area in the village of Kfar Kila, also in Marjayoun district. Israel has a history of attacking its adversaries through the destruction of their olive trees. In October, the United Nations humanitarian office, OCHA, said Israeli settlers had attacked Palestinian olive groves in a ‘war-like’ manner, burning, vandalizing or stealing around 600 mainly olive trees in the West Bank since the start of this year’s harvest. In Lebanon, 47,000 olive trees were burned in the first month of fighting alone.
Early in the morning on Friday, the Israeli army, through its Arabic-language spokesperson, released a statement in which it "prohibits" residents of 10 southern Lebanese border villages from returning to their homes, and requesting that the residents of dozens of other villages in the South stay away. Khiam and Markaba both appear on the list of places listed under "please do not return," while al-Abara did not appear in the statement at all.
Head of the Israeli army's Northern Command Ori Gordin vowed that the military will “aggressively” enforce the cease-fire with Hezbollah, during an assessment in southern Lebanon on Thursday.
“The political echelon agreed on a cease-fire arrangement with Lebanon, and our job is to enable it and enforce it. We will enforce it aggressively, under the conditions we set, this is what will be realized, and therefore we do not intend for Hezbollah to return to these areas, we intend for this entire area to be clear of capabilities and certainly of Hezbollah’s weapons, and that is our role,” he said.
“If they make a mistake, it will be a big mistake, and we are prepared to return to combat… We are now in enforcement mode, but we can, in a very short time, give the opposite order and go back in.”
Reporting contributed by Muntasser Abdallah, in southern Lebanon.
