Displaced people from southern Lebanon allowed to return home during Eid
After the announcement by local authorities in Lebanon of a brief possibility of return to certain localities in the south of the country on the occasion of Eid, several people went to pray there, notably in Naqoura, a coastal town bordering Israel. Hostilities on the sidelines of the war between Israel and Hamas have led to the displacement of more than 95,000 people in Lebanon, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, pro-Iranian Hezbollah, in support of its Palestinian ally, has exchanged fire with the Israeli army on a regular basis. More than eight months of violence have left more than 470 dead in Lebanon, including a majority of fighters from the Lebanese Islamist movement and 92 civilians, according to a count by Agence France-Presse (AFP). On the Israeli side, at least fifteen soldiers and eleven civilians were killed, according to Israel. On both sides of the border, tens of thousands of residents have been displaced.
In Lebanon, the Naqoura municipality said it had coordinated with the Lebanese army so residents could go to the cemetery and mosque for two hours for Eid, which began Monday for many Muslims Shiites of Lebanon. According to an AFP journalist, women consoled each other in front of several graves, decorated with flowers and large photographs of the missing, including Hezbollah fighters.
Hezbollah intensified its attacks on northern Israel last week, after one of its commanders was killed in an Israeli strike. Lebanon’s official ANI news agency reported Israeli bombings in the south of the country over the weekend, as well as a deadly strike on Monday. Hezbollah later said one of its fighters had been killed.
Like other residents who support Hezbollah and the pro-Syrian Amal party, the head of the Naqoura municipality, Abbas Awada, described “cowards” attacks against the city. Last week, a strike blamed on Israel killed an employee of the region’s public water company. Hassan Ezzedine, Hezbollah MP, who attended the prayer at the Naqoura mosque, believes that this crowd is a message: “This land is ours, we will not leave it. » And to add: “We support this resistance [le Hezbollah] because it is she who protects us, it is she who defends us. »