Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati appealed on Wednesday (November 27) to Israel to fully commit and "withdraw from all the regions and positions it occupied", hours after the truce between Israel and Hezbollah was activated, Reuters reports.
"Our people have the right to return to their land and towns and live in peace," Mikati told a press briefing.
A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah held on Wednesday after both sides accepted an agreement brokered by the U.S. and France, a rare victory for diplomacy in the Middle East wracked by two wars for over a year.
Lebanon's army, tasked with ensuring the ceasefire lasts, said it was preparing to deploy to the south of the country, a region Israel heavily bombarded in its battle against the Iran-backed militant group, along with eastern cities and towns and Hezbollah strongholds in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The military asked that residents of border villages delay returning home until the Israeli military, which has waged war against Hezbollah on several occasions and pushed around 6 km (4 miles) into Lebanon, withdraws.
"On this day, the 1,000-mile journey begins to rebuild what was destroyed and to complete strengthening the role of legitimate institutions, at the forefront of which is the army, on which we place great hopes to extend the state’s authority over the whole nation and strengthen its presence in the wounded south," Mikati said.
Israel said it identified Hezbollah operatives returning to areas near the border and had opened fire to prevent them from coming closer. There were no signs that the incident would undermine the ceasefire.
The agreement, which promises to end a conflict across the Israeli-Lebanese border that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year, is a major achievement for the U.S. in the waning days of President Joe Biden's administration.
