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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Unarmed, heads held high, southern Lebanese defy Israeli invaders</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Ahmad Karakira</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">January 26, 2025<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><p>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.</p><img src="cid:ii_m6elj2530" alt="5d95c3bc-bf37-414b-bbe5-102bed844608.jpg" width="440" height="293"><br><div><ul><li>
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 <em>(AFP)</em>
</li></ul>
<p>Southern Lebanese people didn't wait long before deciding to <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/southern-lebanese-return-with-hezbollah-flags-sparks-fear-in">return to their towns</a>
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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<blockquote>
<div dir="ltr" lang="en"><p>Residents of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SouthLebanon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SouthLebanon</a>
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.</p><p>Israeli gunfire… <a href="https://t.co/OZXvd2X5iM">pic.twitter.com/OZXvd2X5iM</a></p></div>
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) <a href="https://twitter.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1883542526491050324?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>With spontaneous popular calls a day prior, the rightful owners of the land set off in their vehicles and <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/lebanese-return-to-southern-border-villages-as-60-day-deadli">flocked to Lebanese territory</a>
invaded by the Israeli military to translate the quote "what was taken
by force can only be restored by force" into real action.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<blockquote>
<div dir="ltr" lang="en"><p>In an absolute show of defiance, a Lebanese woman stands in front of Israeli occupation soldiers in South <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Lebanon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Lebanon</a>.</p><p>Israeli
bullets intended to intimidate did not faze the woman who reiterated
that this land belongs to her and the Lebanese people. <a href="https://t.co/fYtEh67KVQ">pic.twitter.com/fYtEh67KVQ</a></p></div>
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) <a href="https://twitter.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1883440580560322892?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Circulating video documents the moment an Israeli drone dropped a grenade near unarmed civilians in South <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Lebanon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Lebanon</a>. <a href="https://t.co/r3mZUF30MV">pic.twitter.com/r3mZUF30MV</a></p>
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) <a href="https://twitter.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1883424294300213423?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<blockquote>
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) <a href="https://twitter.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1883525088211095834?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>They returned ready to stay on the rubble of their homes destroyed by the brutal Israeli war machine. </p>
<p>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, </p>
<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/lebanese-officials-salute-southern-resilience--urge-iof-with">Lebanese officials salute Southern resilience, urge IOF withdrawal</a></strong></p></div></div></div>
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