West Zawtar residents say Lebanon's "pilot zone" village is no model, with Israeli troops nearby

Right · 1Israeli troops withdrew from West Zawtar in southern Lebanon in July, the first test of a US-backed "pilot zone" plan for Israel to withdraw gradually from southern Lebanon in exchange for the disarmament of Hezbollah. 1 Right · 1Two months on, no further pilot zones have been agreed, and residents say the village is no blueprint. 1 Right · 1Resident Mariam al-Yaghi, 67, said Israeli soldiers patrol close enough at night for her to hear their voices, a small Israeli surveillance drone often follows her in her garden by day, and the military destroys homes in surrounding occupied towns with controlled detonations and bulldozers. 1

Right · 1Her home was hit by a tank shell and its windows blown out, and tank tracks ran through her garden, where olive trees were uprooted; she said she is not scared and has delayed costly repairs. 1 Right · 1Mayor Abed Ezzedine said the programme had not worked, chiefly because electricity and running water were still largely unavailable, contrary to what the village was promised as a "model town". 1 Right · 1About 70 families have returned, mostly living in undamaged corners of their homes, and the Council for the South has delivered 16 prefabricated houses, most still unoccupied for lack of power and water. 1

Right · 1Residents with groves near Israeli positions are requesting access to their olive trees through a US-led coordination mechanism between the Lebanese and Israeli militaries; some mocked the need to ask Washington's permission and others feared approval would come after the harvest. 1 Right · 1Displaced residents of neighbouring East Zawtar, still occupied and being systematically demolished, watch their home town from West Zawtar's square; one man said he had seen lights on in his house and expected troops were laying explosives. 1 Right · 1The Israeli military told Reuters that work to remove the threat of Hezbollah's weapons was not complete, that drones were used to identify threats, and that movement restrictions on villagers were meant to protect troops. 1

Right · 1A US State Department spokesperson called the pilot zone process "the only viable path" to security for Lebanon and Israel, saying the zone would expand after the Lebanese army carried out clearance operations and that Hezbollah's disarmament "is an integral part of this process." 1 Right · 1The wider context is that more than a million Lebanese fled when Israel launched air strikes and a ground invasion about seven months ago, alongside the war in Iran; despite US-brokered talks and a June ceasefire, Israel has continued deadly strikes and its troops still hold a self-declared security zone covering dozens of villages. 1