LEBANON: Lebanon's displaced begin to return home. Lebanese celebrate as Hizbollah chief declares victory in fight against Israel.

Tens of thousands of Lebanese refugees headed back towards their homes in the south on Monday (August 14) as guns fell silent under a U.N.-brokered truce to end five weeks of fighting between Israel and Hizbollah. Cars jammed a bomb-ravaged highway leading from Beirut south to the port city of Sidon. Most roads and bridges to south Lebanon have been bombed by Israel. Cars sounded their horns and passengers made "V for victory" signs. Security sources said tens of thousands were heading home. "We are going to (the village of) Arab Salim. What should we be afraid of? As long as Hassan Nasrallah and Nabih Berri are our leaders we don't fear anything. We are victorious," said one man. Refugees, young and old, cheered, talking of "victory against Israel". Some carried pictures of Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Others handed out leaflets hailing the Shi'ite group's "divine victory" over Jewish state. "Hizbollah defeated a powerful nation like Israel. It forced it to ceasefire and confronted it. Now, not a single Arab state in the world will fear Israel, as long as Allah and the resistance is present," said a woman heading south. Some refugees, fearing Israel would continue its military offensive, said they will not return home just yet. "Certainly, some day (we will go home). But today we decided to wait. We are unsure about the ceasefire," said a refugee living in Beirut's Sanayyah park. In Beirut crowds took to the streets in celebration, following a televised speech by the Hizbollah leader saying his fighters had achieved a "strategic and historic victory" over Israel and that it was the "wrong time" to publicly discuss disarming them. Nasrallah said Hizbollah would immediately begin repairing homes damaged by Israeli strikes and would pay a year's rent and other costs to help the owners of about 15,000 destroyed houses. More than 1,100 people in Lebanon and 156 Israelis have been killed in the conflict, ignited by a July 12 cross-border raid by Hizbollah guerrillas who captured two Israeli soldiers.

ITN Source | August 15, 2006

Tags:. .owners. .guns. .anything. .soldiers. .wrong