22 Lebanese Protesters Killed in Attempt To Return to Southern Lebanon Despite Israeli Military Orders
Twenty-two people were killed Sunday morning in southern Lebanon, and over 80 more were wounded as throngs of protesters attempted to return to villages on the border with Israel. The Lebanese Health Ministry said that the Israeli military opened fire on the protesters.
The protesters, many of whom were holding Hezbollah flags and photos of the group’s late leader, Hassan Nasrallah, breached roadblocks to southern Lebanon that both the Israeli and Lebanese military had set up.
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According to the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, which was signed in November, the Israeli military was meant to evacuate southern Lebanon by Sunday, with the assurance that the Lebanese military would prevent Hezbollah from taking control over the area. Israel has refused to evacuate, claiming that the Lebanese military had not yet established a presence in the area.
“The withdrawal process is conditional upon the Lebanese army deploying in southern Lebanon and fully and effectively enforcing the agreement,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on Friday. Lebanon has said its military cannot take control over southern Lebanon until the Israeli military withdraws.
In a statement, the Lebanese military called on returning civilians to follow official government instructions. The statement criticized Israel for what it called its “persistence in violating Lebanon’s sovereignty, its attacks on citizens, causing martyrs and wounded among them, and its refusal to abide by the ceasefire agreement and withdraw from the Lebanese territories it occupied.”
Israel has not officially commented on the protests.
