A fragile United Nations-ordered truce took hold in Lebanon on Monday after a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas, prompting thousands of refugees to rush back to blitzed villages in the south.
Heavy fighting, along with Israeli air strikes and Hezbollah rocket fire, ceased after the 7am South African time deadline, but the Israeli army said its troops had shot five Hezbollah guerrillas, killing at least one, after the truce. The troops had felt threatened.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was relieved that the cessation of hostilities ”appears to be generally holding”.
The truce prompted tens of thousands of Lebanese who had fled the fighting to head south, choking bomb-damaged roads with their cars in spite of a warning from Israel not to return to the area. Drivers honked their horns in celebration.
Ahmed Nassereddine arrived in the village of Shihabiyeh to find out that his building and petrol station had been destroyed by an Israeli air strike just 10 minutes before the truce.
”Thank God, we survived. Property can be replaced, souls can’t,” he said, holding back tears.
In northern Israel, soldiers coming out of Lebanon were greeted with hugs and handshakes by their comrades. Streets became busier as residents emerged from homes and bomb shelters.
”I feel safer,” said 12-year-old Johnny Wena, riding his bicycle through the streets of Metula. ”I think Israel will have to go in again at some point, but for now I’m enjoying myself.”
The Israeli army told residents of several northern towns away from the border, excluding Haifa, that they need not stay in bomb shelters.
Israel launched the war after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.
Annan urged the sides to consolidate the halt to hostilities and move swiftly to convert it to a lasting ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Parliament Israel would pursue Hezbollah’s leaders ”everywhere and any time”.
About 1 110 people in Lebanon and 156 Israelis have been killed in the war. Israel says it killed about 530 Hezbollah fighters. Hezbollah has acknowledged only about 80 dead.
Thousands of Israeli troops remain in southern Lebanon. Israel has said it will not withdraw fully until an expanded UN peacekeeping force, Unifil, arrives alongside Lebanese troops.
Investigation into war
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz pledged a ”wide and thorough” investigation of the war. Opinion polls show almost all Israelis backed the war, but many criticised its handling.
Olmert acknowledged ”shortcomings” in the conduct of the war and told Parliament he bore full responsibility.
The commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon met senior Lebanese and Israeli army officials at the border to discuss implementing the UN resolution on ending fighting.
Israel says it badly damaged Hezbollah in the war. ”The capabilities of [Hizbollah’s] long-range rockets have been minimised almost to zero,” Interior Minister Roni Bar-On said.
Hezbollah also says it triumphed. A flyer distributed in Beirut proclaimed ”the divine victory” and showed a Hezbollah flag flying above a rocket launcher and two guerrillas.
An Israeli air strike on a van near the eastern city of Baalbek killed seven people minutes before the truce began, Lebanese medics said. Earlier raids killed at least 11 people.
Israel said traffic in the south still risked attack. An air and sea blockade of Lebanon will remain until measures to stop Hezbollah from rearming are in place, a military source said.
Aid groups said they need swift access to the south to help 100 000 people stranded south of the Litani River.
”There can no longer be any no-go areas in Lebanon,” said David Shearer, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon.
Under a UN Security Council resolution adopted on Friday, Israeli forces must start to withdraw as UN peacekeepers and Lebanese soldiers deploy in the south to keep an area between the Litani River and the border free of other armed groups.
Hezbollah has said it will cooperate with the Lebanese and UN troops, but has not promised to withdraw its fighters or disarm — even though it has accepted the UN resolution.
Its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday some aspects of the resolution were unjust and that implementing parts of it required internal Lebanese discussion.
The truce has not resolved many key issues including the fate of the two captured Israeli soldiers and the Shebaa Farms area, which is claimed by Lebanon but occupied by Israel. — Reuters