61 Lebanese return after fleeing to Israel

NAQOURA, Lebanon (Reuters) -- A group of 61 Lebanese returned home on Friday almost four months after fleeing with Israel's retreating army which quit south Lebanon in May.

Escorted by a U.N. patrol, two buses carrying mostly women and children crossed into Lebanon at the southern town of Naqoura which lies a few miles away from the Israeli border.

The group is the biggest to return to Lebanon since Israel ended its 22-year occupation of the south on May 24.

Security sources said they expected twice as many people to arrive by evening.

A source attributed the influx to the start of the school year in October. The returnees were interrogated by the Lebanese army before being reunited with their anxious relatives.

"We're very happy about their return. Why live as refugees in the country of our enemy when we've got our own country?" asked Serge Nohra, a priest who was waiting for his cousins.

Up to 5,000 residents of the former occupation zone, fearing retaliation by the Islamist Hizbollah guerrillas who drove the Israeli army out of Lebanon, left their homes during withdrawal to live in makeshift camps in the Jewish state.

Many are Christians and were members of Israel's client militia, the South Lebanon Army (SLA), which Hizbollah had threatened to kill. The feared retribution, however, did not materialize and security sources say up to 900 Lebanese have returned from Israel since the pullout.

Hundreds of SLA militiamen, mostly low-ranking officers and fighters, gave themselves up to the Lebanese authorities after the pullout. Some were released while others were given jail sentences ranging from one month to three years.

Residents of the southern strip say the pullout, and the departure of their kin, has left many families without income.

Lebanon's cash-strapped government has asked rich nations to give more than $1 billion to help the south but a conference to drum up funds that was scheduled for October has been delayed.

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