Thousands of Shiite residents begin returning to villages in southern Lebanon after ceasefire announcement

Thousands of Shiite residents have started heading back to villages in southern Lebanon after the announcement of a ceasefire agreement, even as local authorities warn that the roughly 1.2 million displaced people should not return yet. Israeli officials said the IDF has not withdrawn from the security zones and will continue operating against terror infrastructure in the villages.

The article says people returning to the south are finding widespread destruction after fighting that, according to the report, stemmed from Hezbollah turning their communities into battlefields and embedding military infrastructure inside residential areas. Local councils in southern Lebanon issued formal warnings, saying residents should slow down before returning and be cautious because Israeli aircraft are reportedly watching people moving through the area.

One Lebanese man from Nabatieh said his home was destroyed and that it would take a lifetime to rebuild it and restore the city to what it was. A woman in Beirut said she did not trust the political process and was hesitant to go back because, in her words, “you cannot trust Israel.”

The report says the territory used by Hezbollah to fire at Israel remains under Israeli military control, and that the visible damage across the villages shows the scale of the destruction in Lebanon. The piece frames the return as happening alongside efforts by Lebanese political actors to present the ceasefire as a path to stability, while conditions on the ground remain uncertain.