Israel forces kill two in south Lebanon as displaced people try to return 

Israeli forces shot and killed at least two people and wounded 17 on Monday in the second day of deadly protests in southern Lebanon, health officials said, as residents displaced by the 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah attempted to return to villages where Israeli soldiers remain.

The shootings came a day after 24 people were killed and more than 130 were wounded when Israeli troops opened fire on protesters who breached roadblocks set up along the border.

Under a United States-brokered ceasefire on November 27, Israeli forces were to withdraw from southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah was to move north of the Litani River, about 30km (20 miles) from the border, by January 26.

While the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers had already deployed in several villages before the deadline, Israeli forces remain in more than a dozen villages.

The US and Lebanon announced on Sunday that the deadline to meet the ceasefire terms had been extended to February 18.

Protests resumed on Monday, particularly in eastern border villages where residents again attempted to return home.

Israeli troops opened fire, killing one person in the town of Odaisseh and wounding seven others across four southern villages, the Health Ministry reported.

The Israeli military has blamed Hezbollah for pushing people to protest and has said soldiers fired warning shots when demonstrators approached.

In the village of Aitaroun on Monday, scores of unarmed residents, some waving Hezbollah flags, marched hand in hand or rode motorcycles, escorted by ambulances, bulldozers and Lebanese army tanks. They approached the edge of the town but stopped short of Israeli positions, unable to enter.

“We are coming with our heads held high and crowned with victory to our village, Aitaroun,” Saleem Mrad, head of the municipality, told the Associated Press news agency. “Our village is ours, and we will bring it back more beautiful than it was before. We are staying.”

Lebanon’s official state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israel dropped a bomb at the entrance of the southern village of Yaroun to deter residents from proceeding further.

In the town of Bint Jbeil, Hezbollah members handed out flyers featuring slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air strike in September, with the words: “Victory has arrived.” Some residents waved Hezbollah flags.

“They think they are scaring us with their bullets, but we lived under the bombing, and bullets don’t scare us,” Mona Bazzi told the AFP news agency in Bint Jbeil.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Lebanon’s capital Beirut, said the protests are a show of defiance by Hezbollah and its supporters.

“Hezbollah has been severely weakened by the war last year, but this was a message from the group that it has not been destroyed and it still has influence in this country,” she said.

THe NNA reported on Monday that Lebanese “army reinforcements” had arrived near Meiss el-Jabal, a border town where residents had gathered to enter alongside the military.

The news agency added that Israeli forces “opened fire in the direction of the Lebanese army” near Meiss el-Jabal, though no casualties were reported.

“We waited in a long line for hours but couldn’t enter,” Mohammed Choukeir, 33, told AFP from Meiss el-Jabal, noting that Israeli troops were intermittently firing at civilians gathered at the town’s entrance.

In Hula, where the Health Ministry confirmed two injuries, the NNA reported that residents had managed to enter after the Lebanese army deployed across several neighbourhoods.

Both sides have traded accusations for delays in the implementation of the deal.

Israel blamed the Lebanese army for not deploying to the region fast enough, while the Lebanese military accused Israel of stalling its withdrawal, complicating its deployment efforts.

On Sunday, the Lebanese army confirmed it had entered several border areas, including Dhayra, Maroun al-Ras, and Aita al-Shaab.

Some family members who entered border villages on Sunday discovered the bodies of their relatives. Israeli attacks killed more than 4,000 people during the war.

Since the ceasefire began, Israel has conducted near-daily operations such as house demolitions, shelling and air attacks in southern Lebanon, accusing Hezbollah of violating ceasefire terms by attempting to move weapons. Lebanon in turn has accused Israel of hundreds of ceasefire violations.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee reiterated on Monday his call for southern Lebanon residents to “wait” before returning.

Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut, said that he did not expect a resurgence of major violence.

“Hezbollah no longer wants any further confrontation with Israel; its goal is to protect its achievements in Lebanon,” he told AFP.