Displaced Lebanese head for homes as fragile truce appears to hold
Abu Ali with his family - they're making their way back to the village of Houla near the border with Israel
Families who had been forced to flee because of the war did not wait to see if the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah would hold.
Just hours after it came into effect they were driving back home on the main road from Beirut.
Some waved the yellow and green flag of Hezbollah, others carried posters with images of the group’s former leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed in an Israeli air strike two months ago.
For many this was a moment of celebration.
“What happened is very good. This is a victory for the resistance,” said Abu Ali, referring to the ceasefire that had been brokered by the US and France.
“May God have mercy on our martyrs. The resistance is a source of honour and pride for us. Without its existence, there would be no homeland, no south, nothing.”
His plan was to return to the village Houla, right next to the border. But Israeli troops were still there, he said.
“We don’t know whether our house is still standing or has been destroyed,” Ali said. “But we’ll go there.”
The 60-day ceasefire will see the gradual withdrawal of the Israeli military, and of Hezbollah fighters and weapons, from Lebanon’s south.
FULL ARTICLE AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c99rzd99mdxo
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