Israeli troops raise flag on Shaqra's Dubieh castle
The Israeli war has caused widespread destruction in Lebanon, mainly in the south, but violence has declined since the signing of a U.S.-Iran memorandum last month and the Lebanon-Israel framework deal.
In Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, one of several "pilot zones" where the Lebanese Army begun deploying as part of the Washington-sponsored deal with Israel, dozens of residents waited for permission to check on their homes.
"We will enter the town with our heads held high, thanks to the presence of the Lebanese army," Abbas Yaghi, 73, told AFP.
The military had told residents on Tuesday to avoid entering "until the security situation stabilizes".
The army is conducting a sweep of the village, which is contiguous with its Israeli-occupied neighbor, Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh.
Israeli troops still launch intermittent strikes on nearby towns. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported drone attacks on Nabatieh al-Fawqa and the Khardali area on Wednesday, as well as artillery shelling on the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge.
"We will follow the army if it gives us permission to enter," said Mostapha Ammar, a 60-year-old resident of Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh.
Wafaa Ismail, 64, also from Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh, was not granted permission to enter the neighboring village as Salam visited.
"He should have brought the people in with him so he could claim victory," she said.
The NNA said Israeli troops "carried out an incursion towards the Dubieh area" near the town of Shaqra, further south near the border, and "raised the Israeli flag in the historic Dubieh castle".
Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salame on X called the move a "hostile, provocative act", saying Lebanon would "spare no effort to restore sovereignty" over castles in the south.
In May, Israeli forces seized south Lebanon's strategic crusader-era Qalaat al-Shqif, also known as Beaufort Castle.
The United Nations looks set to list five south Lebanon castles including Beaufort and Dubieh, also known as Qalaat Shakra, as world treasures under threat, as UNESCO member states meet in South Korea.
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/321413 |