Abu Fadl Ezzeddine lifts an empty food carton bearing Hebrew writing that blocks the entrance to his home in the southern Lebanese town of Zawtar al-Gharbiya. When he and his family returned to inspect the house, damaged during the war, they discovered that Israeli soldiers had occupied its second floor.
"They moved furniture and ventilation fans from the other floors. They slept here, ate here, and left behind their trash and food scraps," Ezzeddine says, pointing to the rooms the soldiers vacated before withdrawing from the town last week under the implementation of the "pilot zone" arrangement.
Ezzeddine is one of hundreds of residents who have returned to assess whether life in the town can resume following the Israeli withdrawal. Many walk through the streets in shock at the scale of destruction and the disappearance of even the most basic conditions for living.
The Lebanese Army is working to restore a measure of normalcy. Military bulldozers are clearing rubble and reopening roads, while soldiers have deployed along the eastern edge of the town square.
"You have to stop here," one soldier says beside two military vehicles, pointing toward "a dangerous area just a few steps away," referring to Israeli troops and armored vehicles positioned only meters away in neighboring Zawtar al-Sharqiya, which remains under Israeli occupation.
The Army Entered. Hezbollah Did Not.
The Lebanese Army has entered Zawtar al-Gharbiya. Hezbollah has not returned.
There is no visible sign of the group. No new Hezbollah flags have been raised, nor have portraits of its leaders reappeared. Torn fragments of yellow flags still emerge from beneath the rubble, shredded by the force of the explosions. The only flags flying today are Lebanese flags mounted on military vehicles.
Army personnel patrol the town square and neighborhoods adjoining Zawtar al-Sharqiya. One resident jokingly describes the dividing line between the two towns as "the Berlin Wall," while another sarcastically refers to the first military checkpoint on the secondary road from Qaqaaiyat al-Jisr as the "Zawtar Crossing," since the town's main eastern entrance remains under Israeli control.
For residents, the army's presence represents more than a security guarantee.
Locals recall meeting Lebanese Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal during his visit to the town on Friday. Haifa Shaqir says Haykal greeted her warmly.
"I welcomed him and told him he was among his own people, and that we were honored by his presence and by the lions surrounding him," she says, referring to the soldiers. "I told him we hoped security would prevail."
She says Haykal replied that he was visiting "his country and his people," promising that "we will see nothing but better days."
"His visit lifted the spirits of people who were broken," she adds.
Restoring Basic Services
The emotional significance of the visit has been matched by practical assistance.
Alongside clearing debris, inspecting homes, and marking those deemed safe for return, residents say the army has begun restoring basic services needed to make daily life possible.
Hassan Ezzeddine, whose toy shop in the town square was destroyed by Israeli forces and whose home in the western neighborhood was damaged during Israeli bombardment, says the Lebanese Army supplied service water and filled the house's storage tanks, allowing him to move back into his home on Friday evening.
Providing essential services was also part of General Haykal's commitment to Mayor Abd Ezzeddine during the same visit.
The mayor says Haykal pledged to help restore services to the town.
"Regarding electricity, I suggested providing residents with solar panels," he says. "He promised to work toward restoring the conditions necessary for people to return."
The army, working alongside the municipality, is reopening roads, removing debris, and, together with Lebanon's Civil Defense, delivering water to residents. Authorities are also trying to provide water tanks for damaged homes to facilitate residents' return.
Yet, Ezzeddine notes, "The army came, but most state institutions have not."
"We haven't seen the Ministry of Social Affairs or any other ministry return," he says. "The only exception has been the Council for the South, which provided food assistance."
He says the issue will be raised with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who visited the town and promised a follow-up meeting as well as support for turning Zawtar into a model town.
The number of returning residents, he says, continues to rise daily.
"People are living in homes without doors or windows because they believe returning is their right, and because their land and livelihoods mean everything to them."
Little Life Remains
No more than 10 percent of the town's homes remain damaged but habitable.
Of the remaining buildings, about 60 percent have been completely destroyed, while most of the rest are either structurally unsafe or too badly damaged to accommodate residents.
Entire sections of the town center have been flattened, stretching toward the outskirts of Zawtar al-Sharqiya, where Israeli forces remain deployed.
To the north, airstrikes and demolitions have leveled an entire neighborhood.
The destruction spared neither public nor religious buildings. The municipal headquarters, mosque, hussainiya, and roads all sustained heavy damage. Even a church built only a few years ago suffered destruction. Residents also report what they describe as an attempt to sabotage the town's drinking water well.
Despite the devastation, residents return during daylight hours, relying on a civil society organization for meals and drinking water. Most leave again before nightfall.
Those returning are divided between residents of Zawtar al-Gharbiya and Zawtar al-Sharqiya.
Mustafa Ammar, who is from Zawtar al-Sharqiya, says he comes every day simply to look toward his hometown.
Israeli forces destroyed his home and bulldozed the tobacco fields he cultivated, but he still comes to remain as close as possible to where he was born.
"Administratively, they are two towns," he says. "But the neighborhoods overlap, and the people have always lived as one community. Many residents of Zawtar al-Gharbiya own homes or property in Zawtar al-Sharqiya."
Among them is Abu Mohammad Hraibi, originally from Zawtar al-Gharbiya but a resident of Zawtar al-Sharqiya. He says Israeli forces destroyed his home and broke into his supermarket, which had been fully stocked.
Every two or three days, he travels from his temporary displacement in Sidon to Zawtar al-Gharbiya.
"I come just to look at my town," he says, leaving his children and grandchildren behind at their temporary residence.
A Sudanese man who has worked at a gas station in Zawtar al-Sharqiya for the past 16 years also returned to check on friends and neighbors in both towns.
A Strategic Location
Residents speak hopefully about returning home and rebuilding their lives, but those hopes are quickly overshadowed by Israeli military movements only meters away.
Explosions continue to echo from villages across the valley that remain under Israeli occupation, including Deir Siryan, Taybeh, Qantara, Yohmor, the outskirts of Beaufort Castle, where a massive explosion was heard only hours earlier, and the Ali al-Taher Heights overlooking the town, which Israel has said it intends to occupy.
Residents hope the withdrawal phase will not drag on.
"The Israeli presence this close to us is a constant source of anxiety," one resident says. "There is no sense of security as long as Israel is there."
Because of its strategic location beneath Israeli-held high ground stretching from Taybeh and Oweida to Misgav Am, the town has repeatedly borne the brunt of wars and confrontations.
"This house," Abu Fadl Ezzeddine says, "was destroyed during the 2006 war. We rebuilt it. Now Israeli soldiers have occupied it, burned its rooms, and left it in ruins once again."
Residents hope this conflict will prove to be the last.
Haifa Shaqir, who says she could not recover "even a single spoon" from beneath the rubble of her home, expresses that hope simply:
"We pray God brings relief to the people, so we can rebuild our town to be even more beautiful than it once was."
