Extract from ABC News
Could Lebanon be facing another serious conflict? (Eric Tlozek)
There is a ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel but you might not know it.
The Israeli Air Force continues to bomb Lebanon, including the capital Beirut, and Israeli troops remain in bases in Lebanese territory despite Israel supposedly agreeing to withdraw them.
Israel's government said the strikes are to prevent the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah from rearming after Israeli forces killed most of the group's leaders and destroyed many of its weapons last year.
A damaged building in Khiam after Israeli forces bombed and occupied the village. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
The United States, Israel and the Lebanese government all want Hezbollah to disarm, but the militant group is refusing.
The ongoing conflict is mostly felt in Lebanon's south where towns still bear the damage from Israel's bombardment and occupation last year.
The residents of Khiam, five kilometres from the de facto border with Israel, had to leave their village for three months when Israeli forces bombed and occupied it.
Scrawled messages on the walls reveal the presence of IDF soldiers inside an occupied home in Khiam. (ABC News: Cherine Yazbeck)
"Exile is harsh," resident Dalal, who did not want to give her last name, told 7.30 in Khiam.
"Leaving your home and settling in an unfamiliar environment is very difficult. Even though we found places to stay, it was still hard. Our own homes are far better."
Dalal (right) and her friend Sabah Zreiq at the Khiam market. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
Now some life has returned to the streets of Khiam.
Much of the debris from destroyed homes has been cleared and water and electricity restored, although the ruins of major buildings still stand around the town.
Amid the damage from last year's Israeli air strikes, residents of this border village try to resume normal lives. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
"The situation is good now," said the mayor of Khiam, Abbas Yousef Ali.
"Of course we still have a problem with the enemy. From time to time it's firing, doing some attacks. This is a problem. [Israel's] not doing the obligation that he has to do."
Khiam Mayor Abbas Yousef Ali says the situation has improved. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
Israeli forces are sporadically bombing Hezbollah around the village, while troops have fired towards the town from an outpost on a hill to the south, leaving residents afraid war will return.
"We get anxious when they [Israelis] threaten us, but we don't want to leave," Dalal said.
"We are determined to stay in our homes and on our land. We will remain here, and as we say we will be patient until the situation calms down.
"We want to stay in our homes, we don't want to leave again."
Can Lebanon disarm Hezbollah?
Dahieh in Beirut has been the target of repeated air strikes by Israeli forces. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
Under the terms of the November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), the country's official military, is supposed to be the only group bearing weapons.
It has been clearing Hezbollah positions in the border region and seizing weapons, saying it has seized thousands of rockets and missiles and removed large amounts of unexploded ordnance.
But the LAF has admitted it will not enter private homes, where Israel alleges weapons are often stored, for fear of aggravating the population.
Southern Beirut mourners continue to pay tribute to Hezbollah's general secretary Hassan Nasrallah, killed more than a year ago. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
"Everybody in the south believes in the resistance [the name its supporters give Hezbollah]. They have been resisting since 1948 and they will never change," Mr Ali said.
That leaves Lebanese military and the government trapped between the demands to disarm Hezbollah and fear of provoking sectarian conflict by forcibly doing so.
"Physically its actually very difficult for the Lebanese government to do that because neither the Lebanese government nor the Lebanese Armed Forces general command are willing to provoke any clashes, armed clashes, in the streets of Beirut," said Lebanese political analyst Frederic Khair.
"But that doesn't mean that they're not working."
Frederic Khair says it's difficult for the Lebanese government to forcibly disarm Hezbollah without provoking conflict. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
Israel's government has nevertheless accused the Lebanese Armed Forces of not moving fast enough.
7.30 witnessed heavy strikes on the area north-west of Khiam, which Israel's military said were targeting Hezbollah weapons storage facilities and a military post.
Israeli strikes have killed at least 127 civilians since the ceasefire, including 11 children in a Palestinian refugee camp near the city of Sidon, according to the UN Human Rights Office.
Israeli airstrikes on Mahmoudiyeh, northwest of Khiam. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
The United Nations Peacekeeping Force in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, has said Hezbollah is complying with the ceasefire by not conducting any military activity in the border region.
It said it had observed thousands of ceasefire violations in the past year, the vast majority by Israel, with Hezbollah only firing at Israel once since the deal was signed.
Mehdi Mustafa says they are keeping their weapons to defend themselves. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
However, the group has said it needs its weapons as long as Israel keeps attacking.
"If Israel persists in attacking Lebanon, and the state does not respond, we will have no choice but to keep our weapons to defend ourselves," said Hezbollah member Mehdi Mustafa in Dahieh, the southern suburb of Beirut where the group has much of its infrastructure and support.
"The Lebanese state should expel Israel from the south, ensure the ceasefire is implemented, and put an end to Israeli violations against Lebanon.
"If it succeeds, then we can discuss handing over our weapons and consider a unified defence strategy for the country."
'The people of Lebanon don't want war'
Hezbollah was previously the most powerful militant group in the Middle East. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
A major obstacle hampering Lebanon's efforts to disarm Hezbollah is the historic role the group has had representing the country's Shia Muslim minority.
While not all Shia support Hezbollah, the group purports to be their protector.
"The sectarian system in Lebanon makes it that all of the sects have their time of governing or ruling Lebanon somehow, whether through public institutions or through militias like we're witnessing now with Hezbollah," said analyst Frederic Khair.
Southern Lebanon's village of Khiam remains partially destroyed following the withdrawal of Israeli forces. (ABC News: Cherine Yazbeck)
"So they believe that if you remove their weapons they would lose this power over the Lebanese, and they do believe that they want to negotiate in the name of their community.
"But I'm absolutely convinced that their community isn't following anymore."
There can be a high price for opposing Hezbollah.
Businessman Mahmoud Shaieb has run against the group in local elections and spoken out against it in Lebanese media.
Mahmoud Shaieb says Hezbollah has attacked him for speaking out against the group. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
He said he and his family face constant threats as a result.
"I was the victim of three attempted assassinations and my daughter, who was 14, was abducted by Hezbollah militiamen that have been identified [but not arrested]," he said.
"The Lebanese Army had to be deployed to my house to protect my family."
Mr Shaieb said Shia Lebanese felt dismayed by Hezbollah's decision to start a so-called "support front" for Hamas in Gaza against Israel in late 2023, provoking the war and extensive destruction.
"We [the Shia] have said 'it's enough'. We have to abide by [UN Security Council] Resolution 1701. So Hezbollah and Tehran must facilitate the policy that only the Lebanese Army can have weapons," he said.
Posters of fallen members of Hezbollah, honouring those who have died in conflicts. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
"Ninety per cent of the people of Lebanon don't want war because we cannot afford it.
"We want peace, especially the people of the south.
"What I say is what the majority of the Shia community thinks and this is what they are talking about in low voices. The difference is that I say it out loud."
Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since 1948, but have just held direct negotiations about ending the conflict and commencing normal diplomatic and economic ties.
The near-ruin of a health clinic in the village of Khiam. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
The Israeli government said its strikes on Hezbollah would continue, despite the talks, until the group was disarmed or defeated.
"Israel will continue to defend itself and Hezbollah is required to disarm, regardless of conversations that take place," said Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian.
"The state of Israel will continue to insist on the full enforcement of the ceasefire in Lebanon to ensure that this terror group is completely cut off, they're not re-arming, that there's no threat to the state of Israel, its citizens, and our security forces as well."
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