BEIRUT/LONDON: Decades after Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon, from which the nation never fully recovered, Lebanese families have once again found themselves uprooted by Israeli evacuation orders, bombings, and creeping ground operations.
Fears of a new occupation have grown since March 22, when Israeli forces struck the Qasmiyeh Bridge, a vital roadway linking the south to the rest of the country.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun called the escalation a “prelude to ground invasion” and an “attempt to sever the geographical connection between the southern Litani region and the rest of Lebanese territory.”
He warned of “suspicious schemes to establish a buffer zone along the Israeli border, solidify the reality of the occupation, and seek Israeli expansion within Lebanese territory.”
On March 24, Danny Danon, Israel’s permanent representative to the UN, denied that his government intends to annex parts of Lebanon. “We have no interest in being there,” he said.
