More than 800,000 displaced Lebanese have begun returning home, UN says

BEIRUT — More than 800,000 people displaced by war in Lebanon have begun returning to their hometowns following a lull in violence amid the Israel-Hezbollah war, the United Nations said in a statement late on Tuesday.

The announcement came as Lebanon and Israel began a new round of US-sponsored talks in Rome aimed at ending the fighting, which are scheduled to run until Thursday. Beirut is seeking Israel’s phased withdrawal from the country’s south, though the Hezbollah terror group has denounced the negotiations as a “humiliation” for Lebanon.

In its statement, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said “821,077 people had begun the return to their areas of origin as of 30 July.”

It added that more than 360,000 remained displaced, around 26,000 of them in government shelters.

OCHA said damage to water and electricity infrastructure from the war has severely affected access to water for more than 700,000 people in south Lebanon, home to most of those displaced by the war.

Last week, UN human rights chief Volker Türk visited southern Lebanon, where he condemned Israel’s widespread destruction of towns and villages, which he claimed could amount to war crimes.

“Demolition of this type raises huge flags about compliance with international humanitarian law,” Türk said, describing what has happened as a “wholesale destruction” of civilian homes.

Türk, who has also criticized Hezbollah for its attacks on northern Israeli towns, called for an end to Israel’s presence in southern Lebanon, and for displaced people to return safely to their homes.

“I met yesterday a man who told me that he returned to his village in this zone … south of this so-called yellow line,” he said last week. “The Israelis were there, they prevented him from going anywhere close to it, and he saw how the village was demolished.”

Israel has said that its attacks target Hezbollah personnel and infrastructure, and accuses the group of hiding among civilians, though Defense Minister Israel Katz last week boasted that Israel has completely destroyed 24 historic villages in southern Lebanon, claiming that their residents were operating on Hezbollah’s behalf.

“Twenty-four Lebanese villages that were hundreds of years old — with Shiite residents who acted as enemies [of Israel] on behalf of Hezbollah and threatened our borders and our residents — we destroyed all of the buildings,” Katz said during a conference sponsored by the pro-government Channel 14 news network.

“Not one house at a time. The entirety of those villages — their demolition has been completed. We’re talking about 15,000 to 20,000 homes,” Katz said

The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah started on March 2, after the Lebanese terror group fired rockets into Israel to support Iran, its main backer.

In response, Israel launched an aerial campaign and ground invasion in southern Lebanon, which has caused more than a million Lebanese to be displaced and more than 4,300 people to be killed, according to Lebanese authorities. Those tolls do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Israel said late last month it had killed at least 2,500 Hezbollah operatives, including hundreds of members of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force.

Lebanon’s top political leadership criticized Hezbollah for dragging the country into another war, but also condemned Israel for its strikes and ground invasion. Hezbollah has denounced the talks and agreement with Israel, but has not tried to sabotage it through military means.