'We will not leave': Beit Lif residents reassured after Lebanese Army deploys to the village

BEIRUT — Following an unusual Israeli accusations against the village of Beit Lif (Bint Jbeil) on Wednesday evening, many of the 500 families who recently returned there after having being forcibly displaced for months as a result of the 2023-24 war between Hezbollah and Israel, felt pressured to consider leaving for safety once again.

However, after the Lebanese Army responded to their call and deployed to the streets of the village, residents told L'Orient Today that they now felt reassured.

However, the Lebanese Army responded to their call and deployed to the streets of the village on Wednesday night, with residents telling L'Orient Today they were feeling reassured after the protective move.

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The Israeli accusations was not an evacuation order, like the ones issued earlier on Wednesday against several villages in the districts of Sour and Bint Jbeil, moments before being targeted with deadly airstrikes. Instead, it consisted of an unusual map of 31 sites, all of them in Beit Lif, that the Israeli army claimed were Hezbollah "infrastructure sites, including headquarters and weapons depots."

The Israeli army added that Hezbollah is hiding these facilities "in civilian homes and near civilian infrastructure," though it did not produce evidence to back these claims.

Fear and confusion

Despite a cease-fire agreement reached in November 2024, following more than 13 months of conflict during which Beit Lif and other villages were heavily destroyed, the Israeli army continues its near-daily strikes — and daily violations — on Lebanon and still occupies several areas within Lebanese territories. Israel further escalated its attacks in recent days, killing 14 people in a strike on the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp on Tuesday followed by strikes that targeted five villages the next day.

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Immediately after the accusations against Beit Lif, the village experienced one of its most tense nights since some of its residents had returned after months of displacement. Fear and confusion spread, especially among the returnees. “The same feeling came back… it feels like the unknown is knocking at the door again,” a resident told our publication.

Lebanese Army deployment

Following the Israeli army's accusations, the village residents made an urgent appeal to the Lebanese Army command and to the country's three heads of state, calling for immediate deployment of troops in the locality to protect civilians.

Their appeal was answered quickly on Wednesday night as the Lebanese Army deployed in the village after the mayor of the village, Izzat Hammoud, contacted the army command and requested their presence in the village to reassure the population. “I rushed to appeal to the relevant authorities, the Lebanese Army, and within less than an hour they arrived,” Hammoud told L'Orient Today.

A force of 16 military vehicles arrived to the village and carried out patrols along the main roads, without inspecting houses, as the Israeli army has been demanding lately. Their presence brought a sense of relief among residents, many of whom gathered in the village's square waiting for updates.

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Hammoud described what happened in Beit Lif as the result of “misinformation and lies,” explaining that most of the 31 alleged locations were "simply previously destroyed homes or rugged terrain, while the remaining ones are inhabited civilian houses with nothing suspicious that could justify this escalation."

He also pointed out that a large UNIFIL base belonging to the Ghanaian contingent is located on a high hill overlooking the village, monitoring the area regularly. Moreover, the mayor noted that the Lebanese Army patrols accompany farmers on their land as well as residents in their daily activities.

Hammoud added that the municipality requested the army to maintain a permanent army point inside the village, but the military noted that it would be present "when needed or whenever the situation requires."

Contacted by our publication, a military source refused to comment on the army's next steps in the village.

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'We will die here'

Despite the fear, no family left the village on Thursday night. "We, the residents of Beit Lif — women, men, children and the elderly — have returned to our land and resumed our lives, gone back to school and work.... We will not allow our land to be taken from us on false pretenses. This is where we grew up, this is where we will stay, and this is where we will die," the residents wrote in a statement on Wednesday night.

“We had our bags packed. We were very afraid. The threat included almost the entire village," a resident who chose to remain anonymous told L'Orient Today.

"But when the army and the mayor arrived, we felt relieved and our fears lessened," he added. Hussein, another resident, who recently repaired his heavily damaged home in the village, said: "We will not leave. Abandoning the house is displacement; we will die here.”