Lebanon fighting eases after US-Iran deal but displaced warned not to rush home

Lebanon fighting eases after US-Iran deal but displaced warned not to rush home BEIRUT: Fighting in southern Lebanon abated on Monday (Jun 15) after the announcement of a United States-Iran deal to end the wider conflict, but local authorities warned those displaced not to rush home, and Israel said it would not withdraw its troops from the area. Lebanon has suffered the deadliest spillover from the conflict between the US and Iran, with nearly 3,800 people killed and some 1.2 million people uprooted by an Israeli offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, which opened fire on Israel in support of Tehran on Mar 2. Pakistan, a key mediator between Tehran and Washington, announced that a deal was struck early on Monday local time that called for "the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon". The declaration brought relative calm to southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese and foreign security sources. Hezbollah's attacks on Israeli military targets, both in southern Lebanon and northern Israel, stopped just before midnight, the sources said. The group has not commented on the deal but has previously said it supports Iran's drive for a ceasefire in Lebanon. Israel also significantly reduced its attacks, the security sources said, though some artillery fire was reported in southern Lebanese towns and at least one drone was heard circling above Beirut and its southern suburbs. ISRAEL SAYS TROOPS WILL STAY In southern Lebanon, municipal councils called on residents to hold off on returning home. Israel's air force has heavily bombed some towns there over the last three months, and others closer to the frontier are still occupied by Israeli troops. Mona Mazeh, a displaced woman sheltering in Beirut's Hamra district, had no immediate plans to return to her village near the southern city of Tyre. "Frankly, we are hesitant; Israel cannot be trusted," she said. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, whose country is not a party to the US-Iran deal, said Israel would not withdraw from security zones in southern Lebanon, Gaza and Syria, and that it would retaliate if Iran attacked Israel due to events in Lebanon. Katz said the security zone in southern Lebanon would be cleared of local residents, and "all terrorist infrastructure, including houses in contact villages", a reference to Hezbollah. The Israeli military has been razing villages in southern Lebanon for weeks, saying it is acting against Hezbollah militants embedded in civilian areas of the region. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese are sheltering in other parts of the country. In Nabatieh, a devastated city in the south, Mohammed Daqdouq said he had returned on Monday morning to check on his home. "We'll need a lifetime to rebuild - to rebuild it again and bring Nabatieh back to how it was," he said. HEZBOLLAH POLITICAL ALLY WELCOMES DEAL Lebanese President Joseph Aoun issued a carefully worded statement on Monday in response to the US-Iran deal, saying he was grateful to those who had worked towards de-escalation in Lebanon and appreciated the deal's recognition of the importance of his country's stability. He did not mention Iran or Israel specifically. Aoun previously accused Tehran of using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in its negotiations with Washington. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a political ally of Hezbollah, said the agreement laid "the foundations for security and stability in the region, including Lebanon". In a statement, Berri thanked Washington and Tehran for including a halt to Israeli attacks on Lebanon in the deal, and described that provision as binding. Iran, whose Revolutionary Guards established Hezbollah in 1982, had insisted that a Lebanon ceasefire be included as part of any broader deal with the US.