Lebanese Returnees Find Destroyed Villages Despite Ceasefire
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- UNIFIL reports daily violations of Resolution 1701 along the Blue Line despite a ceasefire between Beirut and Tel Aviv, with spokesperson Kandice Ardiel noting that reduced violence has enabled some displaced families to return home.
- The latest escalation traces to Israeli-US bombing of Iran on 28 February, displacing families from southern villages including Majdal Zoun, Kafra, and Tyre, where heavy shelling has left homes, schools, and a health centre in ruins.
- Israeli forces continue to operate north of the Blue Line—a violation per UNIFIL—including maintaining a self-declared "Yellow Line" buffer zone 5-10 km inside Lebanon that the UN does not recognize.
- Returning families face damaged infrastructure and limited access to water, electricity, hospitals, and schools after multiple waves of displacement in 2023, 2024, and this year, according to Ardiel.
- UNIFIL peacekeepers report being blocked by Israeli forces at checkpoints, by tanks, and by military vehicles, though Ardiel said such incidents are "usually short-lived" and have not stopped patrols.
- UNIFIL is providing humanitarian support including blood donations to Marjayoun Hospital, toy donations to the Istanbouli Theatre in Tyre, and clearing roads and unexploded ordnance.
Why it matters: The ceasefire has reduced combat but the humanitarian toll is acute: families are returning to demolished villages after three displacement waves (2023, 2024, 2025), and UNIFIL reports being physically blocked by Israeli forces at checkpoints and by tanks—friction that the UN nonetheless says has not stopped its mandate to monitor the Blue Line.
