Over half a million Lebanese have returned home

TT

Published 20.17

A Lebanese family returns to their village after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Archive photo. Photo: Mohammed Zaatari/AP/TT

After months of fleeing the war between Hezbollah and Israel, more than 640,000 internally displaced people have returned to their homes in southern Lebanon, according to the UN migration agency IOM.

At the same time, many Lebanese lack a home to return to. Around 500,000 people are still displaced, according to statistics compiled by local authorities together with the UN.

When the war between the US and Iran broke out at the end of February this year, Lebanon was soon drawn into the war – after the Shiite militia Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in revenge for the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Ruins and ruins

Israel responded with massive attacks and occupied large areas of land in southern Lebanon. According to local authorities in Lebanon, around 4,300 people were killed in Israeli attacks and over a million were driven from their homes.

In June, the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to, among other things, end the war in the Middle East.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have returned home in southern Lebanon and in the southern suburbs of Beirut. But just as many have not been able to return, and many towns in southern Lebanon are empty. All that remains is rubble and ruins.

New attacks

Last week, Israel and Lebanon signed a first framework agreement that will eventually pave the way for peace, a gradual Israeli withdrawal of forces and the disarmament of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

The framework agreement that was signed between the parties is described as fragile. On Friday, the Israeli military announced that it had again struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli troops would remain in a ten-kilometer “security zone” as long as Hezbollah posed a threat, despite the ceasefire.