Israel to impose 'yellow line' in Lebanon, barring residents from access to dozens of villages
Residents will not be allowed to return to the 55 Lebanese villages inside the area: IDF officials
Israel will impose a so-called "yellow line" in Lebanon, barring residents from returning to areas occupied by the Israeli military, according to senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officials, reports CNN.
The tactic was used to divide Gaza, where the so-called "yellow line" demarcates an area occupied by the Israeli military as part of the ceasefire agreement to end the two-year war, and is inaccessible to residents.
"The 'yellow line' model from Gaza will also be copied to Lebanon, and the IDF has already defined a 'yellow line' up to which IDF forces are currently operating," senior IDF officials told reporters in a briefing Saturday.
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Residents will not be allowed to return to the 55 Lebanese villages inside the area, the IDF officials said.
"The IDF is authorized to continue destroying terrorist infrastructures there even during the ceasefire," they added.
On Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the IDF "will continue to hold all the places it has cleared and captured."
People displaced from southern Lebanon by the Israeli military continued streaming home on Saturday morning after a ceasefire came into effect.
In an address to the Lebanese people on Friday, President Joseph Aoun said the ceasefire meant that displaced people could return to their homes.
Israeli attacks have displaced more than 1 million people in Lebanon since the start of the latest conflict.
Southern Lebanon — where Iranian-backed militant and political group Hezbollah has traditionally had a stronghold — has faced near-constant bombardment and ground assaults for over two years.
Scores of residents from villages in the south, near the Israeli border, have had to flee amid evacuation warnings from the Israeli military and a deepening ground offensive.
On Thursday, Lebanese state media reported that Israeli air strikes had destroyed the bridge, cutting off tens of thousands of residents from the rest of the country. Now it appears that the bridge has been repaired, allowing displaced people to return to their homes.
On Saturday, cars could be seen moving in both directions over the bridge. Some vehicles heading south displayed the yellow flag of Hezbollah.
