ZIONIST OCCUPATION
Despite Truce, Lebanese from Devastated Naqoura Cannot Go Home
Cars drive past damaged buildings, as residents return to Naqoura, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, January 23, 2025. (Reuters)
24 January 2025
AD ـ 25 Rajab 1446 AH
All signs of life have disappeared from the bombed-out houses and empty streets of the Lebanese border town of Naqoura, but despite a fragile Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire that has held since November, no one can return.
The Israeli military is still deployed in parts of Lebanon's south, days ahead of a January 26 deadline to fully implement the terms of the truce.
The deal gave the parties 60 days to withdraw -- Israel back across the border, and Hezbollah farther north -- as the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers redeployed to the south.
The Lebanese military has asked residents of Naqoura not to go back home for their own safety after Israel's army issued similar orders, but in spite of the danger, Mayor Abbas Awada returned to inspect the destruction.
"Naqoura has become a disaster zone of a town... the bare necessities of life are absent here," he said in front of the damaged town hall, adding he was worried a lack of funds after years of economic crisis would hamper reconstruction.
"We need at least three years to rebuild," he continued, as a small bulldozer worked to remove rubble near the municipal offices.
Lebanese soldiers deployed in coastal Naqoura after Israeli troops pulled out of the country's southwest on January 6, though they remain in the southeast.
The Israelis' withdrawal from Naqoura left behind a sea of wreckage.
Opposite the town hall, an old tree has been uprooted. Empty, damaged houses line streets filled with rubble.
Most of the widespread destruction occurred after the truce took hold, Awada said.
"The Israeli army entered the town after the ceasefire" and "destroyed the houses", he said.
"Before the ceasefire, 35 percent of the town was destroyed, but after the truce, 90 percent of it" was demolished, he added, mostly with controlled explosions and bulldozers.
All signs of life have disappeared from the bombed-out houses and empty streets of the Lebanese border town of Naqoura, but despite a fragile Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire that has held since November, no one can return.
The Israeli military is still deployed in parts of Lebanon's south, days ahead of a January 26 deadline to fully implement the terms of the truce.
The deal gave the parties 60 days to withdraw -- Israel back across the border, and Hezbollah farther north -- as the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers redeployed to the south.
The Lebanese military has asked residents of Naqoura not to go back home for their own safety after Israel's army issued similar orders, but in spite of the danger, Mayor Abbas Awada returned to inspect the destruction.
"Naqoura has become a disaster zone of a town... the bare necessities of life are absent here," he said in front of the damaged town hall, adding he was worried a lack of funds after years of economic crisis would hamper reconstruction.
"We need at least three years to rebuild," he continued, as a small bulldozer worked to remove rubble near the municipal offices.
Lebanese soldiers deployed in coastal Naqoura after Israeli troops pulled out of the country's southwest on January 6, though they remain in the southeast.
The Israelis' withdrawal from Naqoura left behind a sea of wreckage.
Opposite the town hall, an old tree has been uprooted. Empty, damaged houses line streets filled with rubble.
Most of the widespread destruction occurred after the truce took hold, Awada said.
"The Israeli army entered the town after the ceasefire" and "destroyed the houses", he said.
"Before the ceasefire, 35 percent of the town was destroyed, but after the truce, 90 percent of it" was demolished, he added, mostly with controlled explosions and bulldozers.
A resident previously displaced because of the hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, stands in his damaged home as he returns to Naqoura, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, January 23, 2025. (Reuters)
- Smell of death -
Under the November 27 ceasefire deal, which ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese army has 60 days to deploy alongside UNIFIL peacekeepers in south Lebanon as Israel withdraws.
At the same time, Hezbollah is required to pull its forces north of the Litani River, around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure it has in the south.
Both sides have accused each other of violations since the truce began.
Around the nearby UNIFIL headquarters, houses are still intact, but almost everywhere else in Naqoura lies destruction.
Facades are shorn from bombed-out houses, while others are reduced to crumpled heaps, abandoned by residents who had fled for their lives, leaving behind furniture, clothes and books.
AFP saw a completely destroyed school, banana plantations that had withered away and unharvested oranges on trees, their blossoming flowers barely covering the smell of rotting bodies.
On Tuesday, the civil defense agency said it had recovered two bodies from the rubble in Naqoura.
Lebanese soldiers who patrolled the town found an unexploded rocket between two buildings, AFP saw.
In October 2023, Hezbollah began firing across the border into Israel in support of its ally Hamas, a day after the Palestinian group launched its attack on southern Israel that triggered the Gaza war.
An Israeli army spokesperson told AFP that its forces were committed to the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon.
They said the army was working "to remove threats to the State of Israel and its citizens, in full accordance with international law".
UN vehicles drive past debris of damaged buildings in Naqoura, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, January 23, 2025. (Reuters)
- 'We want the wars to end' -
On the coastal road to Naqoura UNIFIL and the Lebanese army have set up checkpoints.
Hezbollah's yellow flags fluttered in the wind, but no fighters could be seen.
Twenty kilometers to the north, in Tyre, Fatima Yazbeck waits impatiently in a reception center for the displaced for her chance to return home.
She fled Naqoura 15 months ago, and since then, "I haven't been back", she said, recounting her sadness at learning her house had been destroyed.
Ali Mehdi, a volunteer at the reception center, said his home was destroyed as well.
"My house was only damaged at first," he said. "But after the truce, the Israelis entered Naqoura and destroyed the houses, the orchards and the roads."
In the next room, Mustafa Al-Sayed has been waiting with his large family for more than a year to return to his southern village of Beit Lif.
He had been forced to leave once before, during the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
"Do we have to take our families and flee every 20 years?" he asked. "We want a definitive solution, we want the wars to end."
- 'We want the wars to end' -
On the coastal road to Naqoura UNIFIL and the Lebanese army have set up checkpoints.
Hezbollah's yellow flags fluttered in the wind, but no fighters could be seen.
Twenty kilometers to the north, in Tyre, Fatima Yazbeck waits impatiently in a reception center for the displaced for her chance to return home.
She fled Naqoura 15 months ago, and since then, "I haven't been back", she said, recounting her sadness at learning her house had been destroyed.
Ali Mehdi, a volunteer at the reception center, said his home was destroyed as well.
"My house was only damaged at first," he said. "But after the truce, the Israelis entered Naqoura and destroyed the houses, the orchards and the roads."
In the next room, Mustafa Al-Sayed has been waiting with his large family for more than a year to return to his southern village of Beit Lif.
He had been forced to leave once before, during the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
"Do we have to take our families and flee every 20 years?" he asked. "We want a definitive solution, we want the wars to end."
Israel seeks 30-day extension for Lebanon withdrawal amid ceasefire concerns, reports claim
EURONEWS
24 January 2025
Israel has reportedly asked the US for more time to withdraw from southern Lebanon - only days before the deadline to do so is up. Hezbollah says this is unacceptable, and support for Lebanon from major international players is on display.
Israel asked the US for a further 30 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, according to local media, only days ahead of the 60-day deadline stipulated in the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.
The news comes as Israel claims the terms of the ceasefire with Hezbollah were not being implemented quickly enough and that more progress was needed. Meanwhile, the Iran-backed militant group called for increased pressure to ensure Israeli forces withdraw by Monday - as outlined in the agreement.
The deal, brokered by the US and France, requires Israeli troops to withdraw from southern Lebanon, for Hezbollah to remove fighters and weapons from the area and that Lebanese troops deploy in the region.
It ended more than a year of hostilities between both factions, which peaked with an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon that displaced more than 1.2 million people and killed more than 3,500 people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
A man pauses as he checks destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024.Bilal Hussein/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved
However, Israel claims that the Lebanese army has deployed too slowly and that they reportedly continue to find Hezbollah weapons caches.
Hezbollah said in a statement that Israel postponing its withdrawal would be unacceptable and “an infringement on Lebanese sovereignty.”
Support for Lebanon
Commitment to supporting Lebanon has been reaffirmed by major international players, including the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
“Lebanon is entering a new phase of hope and optimism,” he said while visiting the country on Thursday, discussing support for displaced Lebanese refugees following the conflict with top state officials.
Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat also made his first official trip to Lebanon in a decade after years of strained ties – sparking optimism of future collaboration between the oil-rich kingdom and the war-ravaged country.
Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s visit came after Lebanon this month elected its first president in over two years and appointed a new prime minister.
The ascension of both army chief General Joseph Aoun as president, as well as diplomat and former head of the International Criminal Court Nawaf Salam as prime minister-designate are both seen as major blows to Hezbollah.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun meets with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon
Hassan Ammar/Copyright 2025 The AP. All rights reserve
“We have great confidence in His Excellency the president, and the prime minister-designate's ability to work on the necessary reforms to build safety, stability and a united Lebanon,” the prince said after meeting with Aoun.
The Saudi minister also reiterated his country’s support for the ceasefire, calling for the “complete withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from Lebanese territory.”
New era of collaboration?
In the past, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries had been concerned about Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies’ rising influence in government.
With Hezbollah and its leadership massively affected following the war with Israel, bin Farhan’s visit could herald a new era of collaboration between the two countries as Saudi Arabia reports new areas of economic growth.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Saudi Economy and Planning Minister Faisal al-Ibrahim said non-oil activities “today represent 52% of our total real GDP for the first time.”
Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said he saw Saudi-US relations as a "win-win" and likely to remain on a strong footing under US President Donald Trump.
“We need each other. And as long as there is a win-win-deal, we will continue. And I think that is going to continue now and in the foreseeable future,” he explained.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Thursday the kingdom wants to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years.
On the possibility of a broader deal to diplomatically recognize Israel, al-Jadaan said Saudi Arabia was in "no rush."
"We need to make sure that we have an irrevocable path towards a two-state solution," he stressed.
“We have great confidence in His Excellency the president, and the prime minister-designate's ability to work on the necessary reforms to build safety, stability and a united Lebanon,” the prince said after meeting with Aoun.
The Saudi minister also reiterated his country’s support for the ceasefire, calling for the “complete withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from Lebanese territory.”
New era of collaboration?
In the past, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries had been concerned about Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies’ rising influence in government.
With Hezbollah and its leadership massively affected following the war with Israel, bin Farhan’s visit could herald a new era of collaboration between the two countries as Saudi Arabia reports new areas of economic growth.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Saudi Economy and Planning Minister Faisal al-Ibrahim said non-oil activities “today represent 52% of our total real GDP for the first time.”
Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said he saw Saudi-US relations as a "win-win" and likely to remain on a strong footing under US President Donald Trump.
“We need each other. And as long as there is a win-win-deal, we will continue. And I think that is going to continue now and in the foreseeable future,” he explained.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Thursday the kingdom wants to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years.
On the possibility of a broader deal to diplomatically recognize Israel, al-Jadaan said Saudi Arabia was in "no rush."
"We need to make sure that we have an irrevocable path towards a two-state solution," he stressed.
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