Israel resumed on Monday strikes on southern Lebanon after two days of an undeclared truce that emerged after Hezbollah stopped its attacks against Israel on Saturday night.
The lull in fighting prompted displaced residents of the South to visit their villages on Sunday and Monday, which coincided with the Eid al-Adha holiday.
The calm was short-lived as Israel resumed its attacks around 11 am on Monday, with a drone strike killing a Hezbollah fighter.
The developments coincided with the return of US envoy to the region Amos Hochstein to Beirut on Monday, the second stop of his trip that he kicked off in Tel Aviv. He is expected to meet with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Ahead of his arrival, Hezbollah announced its rejection of the proposal to set up a buffer zone in the South, stressing that it won’t stop its attacks against Israel before a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.
Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah described on Monday the idea of a buffer zone as an "illusion drawn up by the leaders of the enemy."
"The issue is not up for discussion because the resistance [Hezbollah] is deployed on its land and defending it, while the enemy is occupying the land of the Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese people. It must pull out from them," he added.
"The only viable solution is an end to the hostilities that is approved by the resistance in Palestine. This will lead to an end to fighting on the Lebanese front," he went on to say.
"Lebanon will then decide what steps to take to protect its people and sovereignty. The enemy is in no position to impose its conditions," stressed Fadlallah.
The undeclared truce allowed some displaced residents of the South to their towns to pray and mourn loved ones killed in months of cross-border violence between Israel and Hezbollah.
"Today is Eid al-Adha, but it's completely different this year," said teacher Rabab Yazbek, 44, at a cemetery in the coastal town of Naqoura, from which many residents have fled.
Every family has lost someone, "whether a relative, friend or neighbor," Yazbek said, adding that two people she had taught had been killed.
Israel and Hezbollah, which is allied with Hamas, have traded near-daily cross-border fire since the Palestinian group's October 7 attack on Israel which triggered war in the Gaza Strip.
The violence has killed at least 473 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also including 92 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
Israeli authorities say at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed in the country's north.
The Naqoura municipality said it had coordinated with the Lebanese army so that residents could safely visit the cemetery and mosque for two hours for Eid al-Adha.
Residents reportedly returned to a number of south Lebanon border villages on Monday morning as part of similar initiatives.
'Thousand thanks'
Yellow Hezbollah flags and green ones belonging to the group's ally the Amal movement flew at the recently established cemetery near the sea, located just a stone's throw from the United Nations peacekeepers' headquarters.
Lebanese soldiers accompanied the residents as they entered the town.
The army coordinates with the UN peacekeepers, who in turn communicate with the Israeli side as part of efforts to maintain calm.
In Naqoura, a damaged sign reading "thank you for your visit" lay along the highway.
Amid the concrete rubble and twisted metal of one building, the shattered glass of a family photo lay scattered on the ground.
Nearby, potted plants hung from the veranda rails of another devastated structure, with a pink child's toy car among the debris.
Rawand Yazbek, 50, was inspecting her clothing shop, whose glass store front had been destroyed, though the rest remained largely intact.
"A thousand thanks to God," she said, grateful that not all was lost.
"As you can see... our stores are full of goods," she said, pointing to shelves and racks of colorful clothes.
'Cowardly'
Hezbollah stepped up attacks against northern Israel last week after an Israeli strike killed a senior commander from the movement.
The Iran-backed group has not claimed any attacks since Saturday afternoon.
Lebanese official media reported Israeli bombardment in the country's south over the weekend, as well as a deadly strike on Monday. Hezbollah said later that one of its fighters had been killed.
Like other residents who support the Hezbollah and Amal movements, Naqoura municipality head Abbas Awada called attacks on the town "cowardly".
Last week, a strike there blamed on Israel killed an employee of the area's public water company.
More than 95,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by the hostilities, according to the UN's International Organization for Migration.
Tens of thousands have also been displaced on the Israeli side of the frontier.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Ezzedine, among a large crowd that attended prayers at the Naqoura mosque, said the turnout was a message that "this land is ours, we will not leave it."
"We support this resistance (Hezbollah) because it's what protects us, it's what defends us," he said.
