Thousands of displaced head back to south Lebanon

Reuters

Several thousand displaced Lebanese headed for south Lebanon on Monday shortly after guns fell silent in line with a U.N.-brokered truce to end five weeks of fighting between Israel and Hizbollah.

Hundreds of cars jammed a bomb-ravaged highway leading south from the port city of Sidon. Most roads and bridges to south Lebanon were hit by Israel during the conflict.

"I'm going to make sure my house is okay," Adel Abbas, from a village near Tyre, told Reuters.

"If Israel sticks to its word and continues to stick to the ceasefire, I'll take my family back home later today."

Bulldozers scrambled to fill pit holes to create a make-shift dirt road on which cars could drive through and make their way home.

But the Israeli army said it was keeping its ban on unauthorised traffic in south Lebanon to prevent movement of Hizbollah gunmen. An Israeli spokesman said anyone found on the road risked attack by Israeli forces. Read more