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Hezbollah flag raised as Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon
DABSCHE, Lebanon (CNN) -- Israel's 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon ended early Wednesday, as Israeli tanks and troops rolled out of Lebanon and crossed the border into Israel. The Hezbollah flag was raised at historic Beaufort Castle after the Israelis departed. Hundreds of Lebanese civilians and Hezbollah guerrillas picked through the damaged Crusades-era castle, collecting weapons, artillery and items left behind, CNN's Brent Sadler reports. The strategically important hilltop castle was used by Israeli and South Lebanon Army forces as a military base near the Israeli border.
Columns of cars moved into southern Lebanon from the north Wednesday as the last of the Israeli Defense Force soldiers pulled out of the occupied zone, Israel's self-declared security zone. CNN crews traveling in southern Lebanon reported seeing traffic jams as former residents of the south, who had left the region during the Israeli troop occupation, returned to their villages accompanied by Hezbollah and Amal fighters. United Nations special envoy Terje Roed-Larson, who was in Lebanon on Wednesday, was expected to travel to the south to assess the security situation. The international community is concerned for the safety of the Christian community who formed the base of southern Lebanon public support for the SLA militias fighting alongside Israeli forces. By morning light, the Israeli Defense Force said its withdrawal from southern Lebanon was complete, although it could not confirm that every Israeli soldier had left -- a few may remain for security purposes during the simultaneous pull-out of Israeli-backed SLA fighters and their families. The final stages of the withdrawal came as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak ordered troops to leave by night's end in accordance with U.N. resolution 425, a document drawn up in 1978 calling on Israel to pull its troops from all Lebanese territory. In the distance, shelling pierced the sky as the retreating Israeli troops fired rounds to make sure Hezbollah fighters didn't attack during the withdrawal. Lebanese Hezbollah and Amal fighters rushed to move into Israel's self-declared security zone in southern Lebanon after the troops left. The Israeli Interior Ministry said it would issue one-year tourist visas, work permits and health insurance benefits to any South Lebanon Army soldiers and families who cross into Israel. After one year, those asylum seekers would be allowed to apply for an extension to those benefits. On Tuesday, Israel-backed fighters from the SLA released all the Lebanese prisoners in the el-Khiam prison in southern Lebanon. Lebanese civilians welcomed the returning Hezbollah and Amal fighters by showering them with rose petals and rice, a traditional Lebanese welcome, and celebrated in the streets with friends and family. Sadler, traveling in a convoy with the armed group down the coastal road from Tyre, reported Hezbollah troops taking in small weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and light machine guns, and taking control of heavy armor abandoned by the SLA. He reported seeing dozens of SLA fighters surrendering. Huge balls of flame occasionally lit the night sky as Israeli troops blew up the last of their outposts in the former "security zone" to prevent their equipment falling into the hands of advancing Hezbollah guerrillas. Troops leveled an Israeli position in Karkoum with explosives. Fortifications near the Crusader-era Beaufort Castle, which the Israelis had used as a command post, were also blown up but army officials said the historic building itself was left undamaged. The sudden collapse of the South Lebanon Army, a militia funded, trained and equipped by Israel, led Israel to accelerate the planned withdrawal of its troops. The pullout from the nine-mile-wide (15-kilometer-wide) buffer zone Israel has maintained for 15 years to protect its northern border from guerrilla attacks had been scheduled by the Israelis to be completed by July. "It's a happy and sad moment for the people of Israel," said one soldier. "It's happy for the soldiers who at long last don't have to be afraid any more. But I don't know if it's a happy moment for the people of Israel, for without us I don't know what is going to happen here (along the border)," said the soldier, who refused to give his name. Lebanese celebrate victoryHezbollah guerrillas and their supporters flooded into the previously occupied area on Tuesday to be greeted with showers of rice and rose petals, a traditional Lebanese greeting.
People took to the streets of Beirut in jubilant celebration of the end of the occupation. Families in the occupied zone celebrated being re-united with their sons who left the area to avoid being forcibly recruited into the SLA. Many former militiamen and their families joined a long line of refugees flooding into northern Israel while others surrendered to the guerrillas or Lebanese forces. Lebanon regards the former SLA fighters as traitors. By Tuesday evening 3,000 Lebanese refugees had crossed into Israel. Most were taken to a tented village on the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee. At the notorious Khiam prison, near Marjayoun, which was abandoned by the SLA, local inhabitants broke the locks and freed 140 prisoners, many held for up to 10 years without trial. "Tell my family I'm coming home," said inmate Mohammed Seyyed. Fear for the futureAmid the celebrations were those afraid of the future. Israeli civilians along the northern border who feel vulnerable to attack by Hezbollah guerrillas -- some now within pistol range of Israeli territory -- took to bomb shelters amid the uncertainty of the fast-changing situation.
Israeli Television reported that the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona was a virtual ghost town, abandoned by residents who feared guerrillas would launch rocket attacks across the border. Christian villagers in southern Lebanon, who had felt protected by the SLA, expressed fears for their future as they got used to the sight of armed, bearded Hezbollah guerrillas driving through the streets of their villages. "So far the situation has been quiet," said a Maronite priest in the village of Ein Ibl, Rev. Elie Barakat. "But people are scared of the security vacuum." Among the former members of the SLA who flooded into Israel on Tuesday, there was a wide range of emotion. Though happy to have escaped with their lives, their families and a few possessions that they could carry, there was anger at the Israelis for accelerating their withdrawal once the Hezbollah advanced. "Look what they did to us, they left us so fast," said one man wearing an SLA uniform, who asked not to be identified as he crossed into Israel. United Nations moves to fill security vacuumTo fill the void left by the departing Israelis and Lebanese, the U.N. Security Council adopted Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan to increase the number of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon. There are currently 4,500 U.N. troops there; Annan wants to immediately boost the number to 5,600 and eventually 7,500. In a formal statement, the council called on "the states and other parties concerned" to exercise utmost restraint and to cooperate with the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The council met briefly with U.N. Mideast envoy Terje Larsen, who leaves for the region Wednesday to continue talks with the concerned parties. After the meeting, Larsen described the council statement as "a very strong document in my briefcase, which will strengthen my position. The two most important issues now are security, (for the) population in the south and also for the troops of UNIFIL." "Secondly, we have to address immediately the issue (of) certifying the withdrawal as soon as possible, and this is one of the main tasks of my people," he added. Beirut Bureau Chief Brent Sadler, Correspondent Jerrold Kessel,Correspondent Mike Hanna, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. RELATED STORIES: Israel ends occupation of Lebanon RELATED SITES: Knesset - The Israeli Parliament | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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International Correspondent Mike Hanna looks at reactions to the withdrawal thus far.
Beirut Bureau Chief Brent Sadler takes a look at the area in southern Lebanon that Hezbollah calls 'liberated' territory.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel is on the Israel-Lebanon border as troops return to Israel. (May 23)
