Lebanese begin street clean-up after ceasefire with Israel

Bulldozers in Nabatiyeh city in southern Lebanon on Thursday started to remove the debris of the old souk of the city a day after the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

“The destruction is very sad and very large, it is more than what we were imagining," said engineer Mehdi Yousef.

The old city in Nabatiyeh was almost flattened to the ground by airstrikes during the 14 months of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

The old city of Nabatiyeh was built during the Ottoman era, according to residents, and is the historic market for most villages in southern Lebanon.

The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese militant group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.

More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials.

The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.

Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas.

Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.