LEBANON: CELEBRATIONS CONTINUE AFTER ISRAELI MILITARY WITHDRAWAL FROM THE SOUTH AFTER 22 YEARS OF OCCUPATION

Record ID: 399054

  • Title: LEBANON: CELEBRATIONS CONTINUE AFTER ISRAELI MILITARY WITHDRAWAL FROM THE SOUTH AFTER 22 YEARS OF OCCUPATION
  • Date: 27th May 2000
  • Summary: MARJAYOUN, LEBANON (MAY 25, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. SC LEBANESE INTERIOR SECURITY POLICE CHECKING CARS ENTERING TOWN PAN RIGHT TO LONG QUEUE OF CARS FLYING FLAGS/MORE CARS MOVE ALONG/PEOPLE WAVING AND CHEERING FROM CAR (3 SHOTS) 0.29 2. SLV CELEBRATIONS IN THE CENTRE OF TOWN; LAS MAN CLIMBING STREET LIGHTINGS TO FLY A FLAG FROM THE TOP; HAS UNIFIL SOLDIER
  • Embargoed: 11th June 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MARJAYOUN, KAFER KELA WESTERN BEKAA VALLEY AND JIBSHEET, LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVA8DTX09BI0GLRGJ7KGZJFEZ5EO
  • Story Text: Lebanon is in the midst of celebrating the recovery
    of its land in south Lebanon following the collapse of the
    22-year Israeli occupation.

    With the exception of a handful of locations, Lebanese army and
    interior security forces have not moved into the south to fill the vacuum left
    by departing SLA (South Lebanon Army) troops, leaving the Hizbollah guerrillas
    as the main authority there.

    But despite new uncertainties after the Israeli withdrawal, much of Lebanon
    was in a festive mood on Thursday (May 25), with roads jammed with people
    heading south who in many cases had not been able to visit their villages in up
    to two decades.

    Buses festooned in flags headed from the southern suburbs of Beirut, a base
    of support for Hizbollah which was formed largely from the Shi'ite refugees who
    fled north when Israel first invaded in 1978.

    In the main square of Marjayoun, the former headquarters for the SLA, about
    100 people danced and chanted to celebrate the end of Israeli occupation.Flags
    of almost every Lebanese political party fluttered about the town.

    A United Nations (U.N.) observer visiting the town reported calm.

    To further allay the fears of the Christian community of a backlash against
    them, Lebanese Prime Minister Selim al-Hoss visited Marjayoun on Thursday.He
    met Church leaders and later at a gathering near the centre of the town he held
    arms aloft with Moslem and Christian religious leaders, further emphasising the
    call for national unity by his government.

    Hundreds of Hizbollah fighters and supporters were seen heading to the
    Baalbek area in the south on Thursday to take part in a mass victory rally.

    In the nearby village of Kafer Kella, close to the border with Israel,
    Hizbollah activists appeared to be taunting the nearby Israeli settlement of
    Metulla by placing a mock-up of a Katyusha rocket launcher near the border.

    The funeral was held on Thursday (May 25) for one of six Hizbollah
    guerrillas killed in clashes with Israeli forces on Tuesday (May 23), the final
    day of the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon.

    The six men were the last Hizbollah fighters to die before Israel completed
    its' withdrawal from south Lebanon, after a 22-year occupation.


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