By Maya Gebeily
BEIRUT, Nov 28 (Reuters) – Israel and Hezbollah traded accusations that their ceasefire had been breached on Thursday, a day after a truce went into effect halting more than a year of fighting in Lebanon.
The Israeli military said the ceasefire, brokered by the United States and France, was violated after what it called suspects, some in vehicles, arrived at several areas in the southern zone.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah accused Israel of violating the deal.
“The Israeli enemy is attacking those returning to the border villages,” Fadlallah told reporters after a parliament session, adding, “there are violations today by Israel, even in this form”.
Israeli tank fire hit six areas within that border strip on Thursday morning, striking Markaba, Wazzani and Kfarchouba, Khiyam, Taybe and the agricultural plains around Marjayoun, state media and Lebanese security sources said.
All of the areas lie within two kilometres (1.24 miles) of the Blue Line demarcating the border between Lebanon and Israel. One of the security sources said two people were wounded in Markaba.
Lebanese families displaced from their homes near the southern border have tried to return to check on their properties. But Israeli troops remain stationed within Lebanese territory in towns along the border and Reuters reporters heard surveillance drones flying over parts of southern Lebanon.
There was no immediate comment on the tank rounds from Iran-backed Hezbollah or Israel, who have fought in parallel with the Gaza war.
Israel-Hezbollah Truce Holds, Displaced Lebanese Begin to Journey Home
The agreement, a rare diplomatic feat in a region racked by conflict, ended the deadliest confrontation between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group in years. But Israel is still fighting its other arch foe, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, in response to the deadly Hamas-led raid on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed at least 3,823 people and injured 15,859 others since October 2023, the Lebanese health ministry said on Tuesday.
Hezbollah strikes have killed 45 civilians in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. At least 73 Israeli soldiers have been killed in northern Israel, the Golan Heights, and in combat in southern Lebanon, according to Israeli authorities.
Under the ceasefire terms, Israeli forces can take up to 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon but neither side can launch offensive operations.
RETURNING HOME
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed the military not to allow residents back to Lebanese villages near the border.
Lebanon’s speaker of parliament Nabih Berri, the top interlocutor for Lebanon in negotiating the deal, had said on Wednesday that residents could return home.
Netanyahu waged the offensive against Hezbollah saying Israelis in the north of the country should be able to return after being evacuated because of rocket fire from Lebanon. Some 60,000 people evacuated from homes in the north have still not been directed to return.
Hezbollah has said its fighters “remain fully equipped to deal with the aspirations and assaults of the Israeli enemy” and that its forces will monitor Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon “with their hands on the trigger”.
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The group has been weakened by casualties and the killing of its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other commanders by Israel.
Announcing the Lebanon accord on Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden said he would now renew his push for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza and urged Israel and Hamas to seize the moment. Months of efforts to negotiate a ceasefire have yielded scant progress, and negotiations are currently on hold.
Israeli military strikes killed at least 21 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said, as forces stepped up their bombardment of central areas and tanks pushed deeper into the north and south of the enclave.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily and Tala Ramadan, Writing by Michael Georgy, Editing by Toby Chopra, Ros Russell and Frances Kerry)
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