Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri presiding over the budget discussion session on Jan. 26, 2024. (Credit: Ali Fawaz/Parliament Flickr account)
Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri expressed his "deep respect and admiration for the residents of the southern Lebanese border villages," who began returning to their towns on Sunday morning. Berri’s comments come as thousands of southerners return to their villages following the end of a 60-day truce between Hezbollah and Israel, despite repeated Israeli warnings urging them not to return.
Under the agreement that concluded the two-month war between Hezbollah and Israel on Nov. 27, only the Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeepers are permitted in southern Lebanon, from where the Israeli army was supposed to have completed its withdrawal by Jan. 26.
The Israeli army has evacuated the entire coastal region of southern Lebanon but still occupies areas further east.
Berri praised the southerners returning to their land, saying, "Your actions today affirm that patriotism, identity and belonging to Lebanon define you."
Three people were killed, tens injured, and two civilians from Houla (Marjayoun) were arrested by the Israeli army on Sunday morning.
Despite the expiry of the 60-day deadline for its withdrawal from Lebanese territory as part of the truce with Hezbollah, the Israeli army remains deployed in southern Lebanon.
Berri condemned the "live bullets fired by Israeli occupation soldiers at unarmed civilians in Mais al-Jabal, Houla, Kfar Kila, Ainata, Yaroun, Maroun al-Ras [all located in Bint Jbeil], Blida and Khiam [both located in Marjayoun]." He stated that this action "clearly proves that Israel persistently violates Lebanon's sovereignty and breaches the cease-fire terms."
He concluded by calling on "the international community and the sponsoring states of the cease-fire agreement to take immediate and urgent action to compel Israel to withdraw immediately from the Lebanese territories it still occupies in southern Lebanon, in response to the bloodshed and injuries suffered by innocent southern Lebanese."
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