Joy is not an emotion often associated with southern Lebanon. Betrayal, occupation, death and high explosives - yes. Joy, no.
But there it was on the television screens yesterday. Grinning Israeli soldiers hugged one another as they reached the border. Shia Muslim women in headscarves wept tears of happiness and showered returning exiles and Hizbullah fighters with roses.
In some villages traffic was blocked by men dancing the Lebanese dabke. Perhaps the most dramatic event of south Lebanon's day of liberation was the storming of Khiam prison, where thousands of Lebanese have been tortured over the past 14 years. The prison's "South Lebanon Army" (SLA) guards fled as the crowd pushed through the gates. Some fired in the air, but the gunfire could not drown the prisoners' cries of hurriyeh, hurriyeh - "freedom, freedom".
Israel had planned to stay weeks longer, but its debacle became inevitable on Monday, when Hizballah guerrillas leading thousands of returning villagers cut the occupation zone in half by seizing Markaba, just 2 km from the Israeli border. Three-quarters of Israel's forces in Lebanon sneaked out, thief-like, during the night from Monday to Tuesday.
SLA men are deserting in their hundreds. The Hizbullah leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, said yesterday that surrendering SLA men had nothing to fear. "They will be delivered to the Lebanese state for a fair trial," he promised.
Sheikh Nasrallah's words did not prevent militiamen from hiding their faces in shame and fear when they were turned over to Lebanese army soldiers.
A few days ago I saw the dynamited ruins of a PFLP office in Taibe, blown up by the Israelis in 1978. It was a reminder that however much the war in the south evolved, it was the last battle of the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war. Hizbullah replaced the Palestinians but, unlike the Palestinians, Hizbullah defeated Israel. Now it is the Maronites of Marjayoun who queue at border posts in the hope of sanctuary in Israel. So this is where it led them: tearful refugees carrying bundles, not unlike the Palestinians they so detested.
And while Lebanese Shias were dancing, the civilians of northern Israel hid underground. Half the population of Kyriat Shmona was reported to have fled south.
On Monday alone, Israel killed six Lebanese civilians in artillery barrages and helicopter attacks - "cover" for its withdrawal. An Israeli missile hit a BBC car near Bint Jbail yesterday, killing the television network's driver, Mr Abed Takkoush. Hizbullah says it will avenge these deaths.
Far more Lebanese than Israelis were killed and wounded during the 22-year occupation. Since 1985, Human Rights Watch reports, nine Israeli civilians have been killed in Hizbullah attacks over the border. By contrast, more than 300 Lebanese civilians were killed in Israel's 1993 and 1996 offensives alone.
Yesterday's events took the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon by surprise. On Monday, the day the SLA collapsed, the UN Secretary General finally got round to talking to the Security Council about UNIFIL's new role.
The force should be raised from 4,500 to 7,935 personnel, he recommended - but not without cast-iron guarantees from all parties involved. Does such a thing exist in the Middle East? Otherwise, Mr Kofi Annan threatened to pull UNIFIL out.
A dangerous misunderstanding that UNIFIL will protect Israel's northern frontier has already crept into some European newspapers. "The UN is not responsible for Israel's security," Mr Timor Goksel, chief adviser to the UNIFIL commander, insisted. "That is a national responsibility for Israel - every country is responsible for its own security."
In the midst of Israel's chaotic rout, in the absence of a peace agreement, Hizbullah said yesterday it would not stop fighting unless two of its militants held in Israel are freed. Like its allies in Damascus, the movement also considers that Israel's occupation of a 25-km long by 13-km wide strip of the Golan Heights known as the "Sheba'a farms" constitues a casus belli - an argument rejected by the UN.
When all of their troops are out of Lebanon in a few days, Israeli officials say there will no be no more need for "measured" retaliation - as if Israel's attacks on Lebanon were ever measured. So please, Mr Annan, don't send your peacekeepers home yet.
