Though large numbers of displaced Lebanese civilians are still being prevented from returning to their homes by the Israeli occupation, a handful are trickling into the area, for lack of anyplace else to go, and because the “pilot zone” areas, at least nominally, are open to them and free of Israeli presence.
Those first few are reporting that while they’re finally being allowed into the pilot zones, they’re returning to very little, with the level of destruction far worse than they expected, and what was once a nice little village now largely in ruins.
For the majority of southerners, who remain displaced, what if anything they have left to go back to remains a question. Some are turning to satellite images of their villages to try to see if their homes or neighborhoods are still standing. They’re not liking what they see.
An elderly man speaks with a military member as residents attempt to enter Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh village, as Lebanese army troops deploy in the area following the withdrawal of Israeli forces, under a U.S.-brokered plan, in Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, Lebanon July 22, 2026. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
Hafez Ghacham, the mayor of the village of Yaroun, reports that an estimated 180 of the village’s 200 homes have been destroyed. Geryes Saloum, another Yaroun resident, says the satellite images he saw showed his home, and all the homes immediately surrounding it, had been destroyed.
Israel invaded Lebanon in early March, and has killed in excess of 4,300 people since then, occupying much of the south. The Lebanese government has engaged in repeated talks with Israel and has reached more than half a dozen distinct deals, none of which set any sort of timeline for Israel to withdraw, nor indeed to stop attacking at all.
That has led to some political tension within Lebanon, opposition MP Hassan Fadlallah, a Hezbollah-aligned MP from Bint Jbeil, slammed the current government for its failure to raise the issue of the ongoing attacks and massive destruction with the United States, or indeed to do anything about the ongoing invasion and occupation.
Fadlallah said Hezbollah remains willing to engage with the Lebanese government, on the condition that they fulfill the responsibilities of a government in restoring sovereignty to the south, ending attacks and enabling the return of civilians to the area. He accused the government of acting as a “spectator” in the ongoing conflict.
