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on April 21, 2026, 11:21 am
It turned sombre apparently when they got "home" to find everything had been destroyed. Yeh, that tends to get the sombre mood going.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/19/lebanese-return-south-ceasefire-flattened-neighbourhoods-israel
Determined to see their homes, displaced residents use shaky ceasefire to journey to their villages – but the mood turns sombre when they arrive
Mohammed Ashour was on the road at 5am, speeding towards his hometown of Shaqra. The Lebanese army, the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah had all told residents of south Lebanon not to return, that it was still dangerous despite a ceasefire. But the 60-year-old had been displaced for 44 days – he had counted each day – and he would not wait another hour before seeing his home.
At 3pm, Ashour was still on the road. The normally two-hour drive turned into 10, as the line of cars returning south stretched for miles down the Lebanese coastal highway. The Lebanese army had worked through the night to repair the Qasmiyeh Bridge into Tyre, bombed by Israel hours before the ceasefire, and cars were inching over the ad-hoc crossing one by one.
“They told me my house was destroyed. But I wanted to come and see it for myself,” said Ashour, still in his car. He had left his family in Beirut, wanting to shield them from the destruction that awaited them in their village.
Ashour was one of thousands of Lebanese who rushed back to their villages in south Lebanon on Friday in the hours after the shaky 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect. People returned to south Lebanon despite the rubble-strewn roads and collapsed bridges, crossing dirt roads and even driving through the Litani River, and despite a ceasefire that promised no permanent peace.
“It’s our land. Whether the truce is short or long, even if it’s just for an hour, we will come back,” Ashour said, before driving off to see Shaqra.
Families, packed two-to-a-seat, drove cars saddled with mattresses down the highway, accompanied by crowds waving Lebanese and Hezbollah flags, cheering on the returning residents. Some held up their fingers in a V sign for victory.
But the festive atmosphere turned sombre when residents reached their villages.
The return to their towns and villages was bittersweet, not only because of the damage, but also because residents were unsure how long they would be able to stay. The 10-day ceasefire came with warnings from both Israeli and Hezbollah officials that hostilities could resume at any time if either party violated the truce.
The war that began on 2 March when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, causing an Israeli bombing campaign and invasion, was frozen, but only barely. The same issues that ignited the war – Hezbollah’s presence in the south and continued Israeli bombing of Lebanon – still remained.
and they just can't resist the propaganda framing of the genocidal entity "retaliating".
Fucking whores. These people shall never be forgiven for their role in this.
The corporate media are complicit in the Gaza genocide.
Never forget what they did. Never forgive them for it.![]()
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