Salam inspects Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, says Lebanon seeking 'complete Israeli withdrawal'
Lebanon is working towards a "complete Israeli withdrawal" from areas it occupies, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Wednesday on a visit to a village where Lebanon's army recently deployed.
"We will continue mobilizing our political and diplomatic efforts to secure a complete Israeli withdrawal from the south," he said in Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, one of several "pilot zones" intended to demonstrate that the Lebanese Army can remove and disarm Hezbollah as part of a Washington-sponsored deal with Israel.
The Lebanese military had begun deploying in the village on Tuesday. Israeli forces were previously present on its outskirts.
Salam made his statement a day after President Joseph Aoun met with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump at the White House, where Aoun said he "stressed the urgent need for a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory."
In Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, dozens of residents waited at the village's entrance for permission to go 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 the village "until the security situation stabilizes."
The army is conducting a sweep of the town, which is geographically contiguous with its Israeli-occupied neighbor, Zawtar al-Shariqyeh.
Israeli troops still launch intermittent strikes in surrounding towns, the latest on Nabatieh al-Fawqa.
"We will follow the army if it gives us permission to enter," Mustafa Ammar, a 60-year-old resident of Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh said, hoping that Israel would withdraw from other areas.
Wafaa Ismail, 64, also from Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh, was not granted permission to enter the neighboring village as Salam visited.
She expressed frustration at seeing the prime minister enter on his own, escorted by the army, saying: "He should have brought the people in with him so he could claim victory."
Under the agreement signed last month, Lebanon's army is meant to disarm Hezbollah in the "pilot zones" it will operate in, banning military activity from any non-state group to pave the way for future Israeli withdrawals from other areas.
The group has repeatedly rejected the agreement and refuses to lay down its weapons.
However, the military said on Tuesday that Israeli forces "opened fire in the vicinity of these units," adding that the incident would hinder the deployment.
The Israeli military said it had only fired "warning shots into the air" after Lebanese soldiers entered an area that was "not part of the pilot area."
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war by attacking Israel in support of Tehran on March 2, prompting major Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion.
After planting a Lebanese flag in the village, Salam said that "in parallel with the army's deployment, we will continue opening roads, removing rubble, and securing essential services, enabling our people to return safely and with dignity to their homes and villages."
Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed more than 4,300 people since March, according to the Lebanese authorities, while Israeli forces have demolished scores of buildings in the south.
The violence has dropped off sharply since the signing of a framework agreement between the United States and Iran last month and the Lebanon-Israel deal.
While more than a million people were displaced by the violence, more than 700,000 have returned to their homes over the past few weeks, according to the United Nations.
Source: Agence France Presse
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