BEIRUT, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Amid the ruins of her destroyed home in the border village of Al-Wazzani in southeastern Lebanon, eight-year-old Hasnaa Mohammad searches for her school bag. She was forced to abandon it, along with her home, when her family fled following an Israeli evacuation order for all residents in the area in October 2023.

"My schoolbag, toys, even my clothes -- all gone. I only found an old photograph of me with the flock of sheep I used to tend in our fields," Hasnaa spoke softly, her voice filled with sorrow.

She added, "I had dreamed of returning home, sleeping beside my toys in bed. But our house is uninhabitable now. I don't know where we will stay this winter, with its cold and storms, after we were forced out of the school where we had taken shelter."

Like Hasnaa, dozens of residents of Al-Wazzani -- mostly shepherds -- have returned on foot, just as many others in Lebanon's southern border villages have done following the Israeli withdrawal on Feb. 18. Returnees sensed a mixture of joy for returning to their homeland and devastation due to the vast destruction.

Across the border region, villages stand as grim testaments to the war's devastation. Once bustling streets are now eerily silent, roads are riddled with craters, homes are reduced to skeletal remains, and once-thriving farmland has turned into barren wastelands.

Al-Wazzani's mayor, Ahmed Mohammad, told Xinhua, "Residents traveled nearly 10 kilometers on foot, only to find their homes in ruins, their orchards razed. Along the way, we stumbled upon a house rigged with explosives -- an ambush that could have ended in tragedy. Thankfully, a Lebanese army engineering team dismantled it in time."

In Adaisseh, a village bordering the Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel, returning residents gathered in the main square. Women threw flowers to welcome Lebanese soldiers, while others embraced each other amid the rubble of their former homes.

Among them was an elderly woman in her seventies who hugged a soldier tightly and cried out, "You are the protectors of our homeland! We are exhausted by war and long for peace in your presence."

Jaber Rammal, 50, whose two-story home was flattened by an Israeli airstrike, said, "We never imagined such devastation. Our town is unrecognizable. Clearing the rubble alone will take more than a year, and we hope the reconstruction process won't be hindered."

"The Israeli army has blocked the village's eastern entrance, cutting us off from Marjayoun and other surrounding villages. This isolation makes movement and communication difficult," he added.

A significant concern remains in Adaisseh, where a large part of its outskirts falls within Al-Aweida Hill -- one of five strategic positions still occupied by Israeli forces despite their supposed withdrawal. "How we will reclaim this land remains an open question," Rammal noted.

Meanwhile, in Kafr Kila -- a village subjected to some of the most systematic Israeli destruction -- residents defied the Lebanese army's caution and returned by foot through backroads. They were shocked to find Israeli troops still stationed at the northern entrance, warning them not to approach the concrete border wall, now riddled with gaps and cracks.

Kafr Kila's mayor, Hassan Sheet, told Xinhua, "The sight upon arrival was staggering. The destruction of homes exceeds 90 percent. Many residents couldn't even recognize where their houses once stood, as they had been bombed, then bulldozed into oblivion."

For Dallal Fawaz, 50, the return to Kafr Kila was bittersweet. "It feels like an earthquake wiped out everything. Our joy in coming home has been replaced with sorrow and heartbreak," she said.

In Maroun Al-Ras, a village in the central sector of southern Lebanon that was completely destroyed, residents have opted to return despite the conditions. Many are living in prefabricated houses or temporary tents until reconstruction begins.

Kamel Zahran, a veteran farmer from the border region, painted a bleak picture of the agricultural devastation. "The fields of Marjayoun, Khiam, and Majidiyeh look as though the land itself has been wounded. Ancient olive trees, once abundant with oil and fruit, have been reduced to firewood. We have become strangers on our own land."

Zahran posed a question that lingers in the minds of many: "Will these villages be revived soon, or will they remain silent witnesses to a tragedy that has yet to end?"

Since Nov. 27, a ceasefire agreement has been in place between Israel and Lebanon, halting over a year of clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, which were fueled by the war in Gaza. Under the terms of the agreement, Israel was to withdraw from Lebanese territory within 60 days, a deadline that passed on Jan. 26 before being extended at Washington's request until Feb. 18.

Despite the extension, Israel has yet to fully withdraw, retaining control over five key strategic heights along the Lebanese border. The ceasefire also mandates the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south to ensure security, prevent the presence of weapons and militants in the area, and enforce UN Resolution 1701 adopted in 2006. Enditem

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