Lebanon’s amnesty law allows families of former SLA fighters who fled to Israel to return

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

Illustrative: A Lebanese and Israeli flag placed together at a memorial for the fallen soldiers of the South Lebanon Army near the Israeli–Lebanese border, on November 27, 2025. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
Illustrative: A Lebanese and Israeli flag placed together at a memorial for the fallen soldiers of the South Lebanon Army near the Israeli–Lebanese border, on November 27, 2025. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

Lebanon’s parliament passes a general amnesty law that, among other provisions, allows the families of citizens who fought in the Israel-backed South Lebanon Army to return to the country.

Fearing retribution from Hezbollah, thousands of SLA fighters and their families fled to Israel in 2000 when the IDF pulled out of Lebanon.

Lebanese citizens who “fled to Israel after the liberation of the south in 2000, including their families, will benefit definitively from the general amnesty, which finally opens the path for them to return to their homeland,” writes MP Ghana Ayoub of the Christian Lebanese Forces party.

“They are Lebanese, and Lebanon does not abandon its sons,” she writes on X.

This post has been updated to clarify the legislation.

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