The Israeli army has been preventing the residents of southern Lebanon’s villages from returning to their homes, warning them against going back.
In a statement to the residents, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said they are barred from returning home “until further notice.”
He warned that anyone heading to the barred areas would be putting their lives in danger.
However, the majority of the villages and towns mentioned by the Israeli army are located north of the Litani River.
A security sources said the army’s warning “is confusing and unacceptable, especially since it is continuing its razing of agricultural lands in Khiam city and other villages near the border.”
The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The only explanation for this is that Israel is trying to impose a buffer zone in the 60-day period offered by the ceasefire until the Lebanese army and United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeepers can continue their deployment along the southern border and the monitoring committee can begin its work.”
The Israeli actions are a violation of the ceasefire, which went into effect on Wednesday, added the source.
The violations demand immediate political effort sand contacts with US officials so that they can put a stop to them and speed up the formation of the five-member committee that will be chaired by an American officer, he stated.
Military and strategic expert General Nizar Abdel Qader said: “Israel’s gains on the ground and its success in imposing its conditions in the ceasefire agreement have led it to believe that it has the final say” in the South.
“True, it did not achieve a crushing victory against Hezbollah, but it proved its military superiority and achieved major gains,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.”
“It is preventing the residents of the South from returning home because it fears that Hezbollah members may be among them. It has learned lessons from its withdrawal from the South in 2000 when Hezbollah imposed its total and sole control of the border,” he remarked.
“It also learned its lesson from its withdrawal in 2006 when it let the Lebanese state oversee the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and soon after Hezbollah built a much more powerful military arsenal,” he noted.
Moreover, Abdel Qader said the Israeli violations cannot be separated from what is happening in Israel itself. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believed that it was too soon to declare a ceasefire and he instead said that Israel did not stop the war and can launch it all over again.
The violations in the South are part of political maneuvers that Netanyahu is using to hide his “embarrassment in front of the Israeli opposition and are attempts to calm the extremist ministers in his government,” he explained.
Residents of the South have acknowledged that Israel is in fact dictating their return to their homes. They said that Hezbollah was the one who called the shots in 2006, but this is not the case now.
Sami, a resident of Yohmor north of the Litani, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel has been relentlessly attacking his town.
It is dangerous for people to return to their homes, he warned, revealing that Israel has imposed a no-go zone 5 km deep into Lebanon.
Israel has so far not fulfilled its side of the ceasefire, he noted.
