Lebanese refugees flooded back to their homes in the war-ravaged south yesterday as the truce held for a second day and Israeli forces began a slow withdrawal, write Declan Walsh, in Sidiqine, and Conal Urquhart, in Kiryat Shmona
People travelled south at a rate of 6,000 per hour, according to Unicef, cramming into cars stacked with mattresses and bags in defiance of renewed Israeli threats. Israeli planes dropped leaflets over the southern city of Tyre warning refugees not to return home until a joint Lebanese-international force starts to deploy later this week.
In Kiryat Shmona, which suffered more than 1,000 Hizbullah missile strikes during the 34-day conflict, many were unhappy with the outcome.
"We should have continued the attack because it will only happen again," said 74-year-old Janni Tzar as she returned from Tel Aviv.
Israel's top general, Dan Halutz, said Israeli forces could withdraw from southern Lebanon within seven to 10 days, army radio reported. Some forward positions may be handed to UN forces as early as tomorrow. The Lebanese army was said to be preparing to send 15,000 troops south of the Litani river in line with the agreement. An international force, probably led by France, is due to be deployed later this week.
The United States urged the UN to get more peacekeepers into southern Lebanon on an "urgent basis" rather than within months.
"Nobody believes that deploying the force in months is acceptable. This needs to be done on a much more urgent basis than that," US state department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
UN secretary general Kofi Annan had told Israeli television earlier it would take weeks or months to deploy peacekeepers.
Maj Gen Alain Pellegrini, the commander of Unifil (UN Interim Force in Lebanon), told France's Le Monde newspaper it would take a year for an expanded force to reach its full strength.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said the safety of Irish troops in Lebanon would be the "main issue" for the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Defence as they considered possible Irish involvement in the new UN peacekeeping force.