[News] Unarmed, heads held high, southern Lebanese defy Israeli invaders

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/unarmed--heads-held-high--southern-lebanese-defy-israeli-inv>
Unarmed, heads held high, southern Lebanese defy Israeli invaders
Ahmad Karakira
January 26, 2025
------------------------------

With the Israeli occupation forces continuing to wreak havoc in their
towns, the southern Lebanese took it upon themselves to retrieve their land
from its invaders.
[image: 5d95c3bc-bf37-414b-bbe5-102bed844608.jpg]

   - Residents fly Hezbollah flags near an Israeli military vehicle as
   people gather in Borj al-Molouk on January 26, 2025, after crossing an
   Israeli roadblock on a road leading to Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon
   *(AFP)*

Southern Lebanese people didn't wait long before deciding to return to
their towns
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/southern-lebanese-return-with-hezbollah-flags-sparks-fear-in>
and villages devastated by Israeli assaults, after the 60-day deadline set
for the complete withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from the area
expired at 4:00 am on January 26, 2025.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced that the Israeli
military would not meet the deadline set for its withdrawal from southern
Lebanon, in a breach of the terms of the ceasefire agreement that ended the
war, further exposing "Israel's" aggressive and expansionist nature.

With the deadline expiring, Netanyahu deciding unilaterally to stay, the
Israeli army issuing warnings for the Lebanese not to return, and invading
Israeli occupation forces continuing to wreak havoc in their towns, the
southern Lebanese took it upon themselves to liberate their land from its
invaders, with some choosing to erect tents over their demolished homes to
cement their presence on their land in the face of Israeli savagery.

Residents of #SouthLebanon
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/SouthLebanon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
forced their way in the early hours of the morning into their hometowns and
homes on the border despite the presence of Israeli occupation forces who
violated the ceasefire agreement and stayed in Lebanese territory beyond
January 26.

Israeli gunfire… pic.twitter.com/OZXvd2X5iM <https://t.co/OZXvd2X5iM>
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) January 26, 2025
<https://twitter.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1883542526491050324?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

With spontaneous popular calls a day prior, the rightful owners of the land
set off in their vehicles and flocked to Lebanese territory
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/lebanese-return-to-southern-border-villages-as-60-day-deadli>
invaded by the Israeli military to translate the quote "what was taken by
force can only be restored by force" into real action.

Unarmed and on foot, southern Lebanese men, women, elders, and children
broke the barriers erected to prevent them from reaching their land and
stood strong in the face of the Israeli war machine, with its forces and
vehicles, confronting them with revolutionary chants, flags of Lebanon and
Resistance groups, photos of their martyrs who sacrificed themselves for
the sake of defending Lebanon, spearheaded by martyr Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah, Hezbollah's former Secretary-General, who was cowardly
assassinated by "Israel" in late September 2024.

In an absolute show of defiance, a Lebanese woman stands in front of
Israeli occupation soldiers in South #Lebanon
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/Lebanon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>.

Israeli bullets intended to intimidate did not faze the woman who
reiterated that this land belongs to her and the Lebanese people.
pic.twitter.com/fYtEh67KVQ <https://t.co/fYtEh67KVQ>
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) January 26, 2025
<https://twitter.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1883440580560322892?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Israeli occupation forces responded by doing what they know best:
mobilizing their troops and vehicles to suppress the popular resistance,
opening fire on the unarmed Lebanese people, killing 22, including Lebanese
soldiers, injuring more than 100, and detaining others.

In one instance and in yet another blatant and documented Israeli assault,
a Merkava tank went after unarmed Lebanese civilians in Odaisseh, who were
trying to return home following the end of the 60-day withdrawal deadline
for Israeli occupation forces as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement
reached on November 27, 2024.

However, even as the tank pursued and opened fire on the people, one
defiant hand rose, flashing the victory sign in the face of the Israeli
aggressor, declaring that no amount of firepower can suppress the will to
reclaim what is justly theirs.

So, undeterred and with their heads held high, the resilient southern
Lebanese defied Israeli terrorism and stood fearlessly in the face of the
Israeli troops and tanks, insisting on liberating every inch of their land,
before the raiding forces retreated from swathes of these areas in the face
of their might.

Circulating video documents the moment an Israeli drone dropped a grenade
near unarmed civilians in South #Lebanon
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/Lebanon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>.
pic.twitter.com/r3mZUF30MV <https://t.co/r3mZUF30MV>
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) January 26, 2025
<https://twitter.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1883424294300213423?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) January 26, 2025
<https://twitter.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1883525088211095834?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The scenes of January 26 are reminiscent of those from the year 2000, after
a human flood, in parallel with military operations by the Lebanese
Resistance, liberated the South from the Israeli occupation and arrogance.

Today's scenes also brought back to life the scenes of the proud Lebanese
people returning to their towns and villages in the South after the
Resistance dealt "Israel" a severe blow and repelled its aggression on
Lebanon in 2006.

They returned ready to stay on the rubble of their homes destroyed by the
brutal Israeli war machine.

Citing a phrase from the speech of martyr Sayyed Nasrallah at the
celebration of the victory of July 2006: "Our honorable people… Today, you
astonish the world once again, proving beyond doubt that you are a proud,
loyal, and courageous nation," the Military Media Unit of the Islamic
Resistance hailed the return of the southern Lebanese to their villages,

*Read more: Lebanese officials salute Southern resilience, urge IOF
withdrawal
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/lebanese-officials-salute-southern-resilience--urge-iof-with>*
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