Soldiers, Refugees Return Home

(CBS/AP)  Hundreds of Israeli soldiers walked out of Lebanon on Tuesday — some smiling broadly and pumping their fists, others weeping or carrying wounded comrades — as a cease-fire with Hezbollah solidified after a shaky start. The process was expected to accelerate over the coming days.

The return of tens of thousands of Lebanese made slower progress with roads in gridlock, reports CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey. Altogether, the U.N. estimated that 6,000 people an hour were heading south from Beirut.

Lebanon's Council of Development and Reconstruction put the damage at $2.5 billion in the first two weeks of the war alone, Pizzey adds. By some estimates, the country has been set back 25 years.

The international community looked to build a U.N. peacekeeping force for south Lebanon, but it remained unclear how quickly such a force could be deployed. The guerrillas' patrons, Syria and Iran, proclaimed that Hezbollah won its fight with Israel — claims the Bush administration dismissed as shameful blustering.

Many of the infantry soldiers smiled with joy as they crossed back into Israel. Members of one unit carried a billowing Israeli flag. Some sang a traditional Hebrew song with the lyric: "We brought peace to you." Others wept as they returned to their country, exhausted by the fighting.

Some of the troops had been so disconnected from the news that they asked if Israel had managed to free two soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah on July 12 sparked the fighting. Israel had not. Several tanks headed back into Israel as well, including one that had been damaged and was being towed by a military bulldozer.

At times as they headed south, the soldiers crossed paths with Israeli civilians traveling in the opposite direction, back to the homes they abandoned weeks ago under Hezbollah rocket fire.

In other developments:

Israeli forces killed a senior Hezbollah leader just before the U.N. cease-fire took effect, the army said Wednesday. The army said its forces killed the head of Hezbollah's special forces, who they identified as Sajed Dawayer. There was no immediate confirmation from Lebanon.

Despite the U.N. cease-fire, Hezbollah guerillas fired at least 10 Katyusha rockets into southern Lebanon early Tuesday, the army said. None of them reached Israel and no injuries were reported. Hezbollah has said it will attack Israeli forces in southern Lebanon despite the truce.

The Palestinian president and prime minister were intervening Tuesday in the case of two Fox News journalists who were kidnapped a day earlier and remained missing.

Trying to build on a cease-fire in Lebanon, U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson launched an effort Tuesday to arrange the release of prisoners held by Hezbollah and Israel. "The cease-fire is a step in the right direction," Jackson said after talking to the Israeli and Syrian ambassadors. "Release of prisoners would reinforce the positive direction."

Televangelist Pat Robertson, who prayed for victory last week with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, contends that the cease-fire with Hezbollah has rendered the entire bloody conflict pointless. "Israel went in, but what have they done? Is the word of Isaiah true? — 'We writhed in pain but we gave birth to wind' — I'm afraid so."

Areas of northern Israel that were turned into closed military zones weeks ago were reopened to civilian traffic, and the tanks, bulldozers and other heavy military vehicles that had lined the roads were gone. At one main junction, teenage girls handed out flowers to returning soldiers, thanking them for protecting their homes.

In the battered Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona, residents emerged from grimy bomb shelters and began cleaning up the wreckage caused by more than a month of Hezbollah rocket attacks.

The partial Israeli withdrawal came in preparation for a Lebanese troop deployment across the Litani River, some 18 miles north of the Israeli border. Lebanon's deployment was expected to begin Thursday and eventually put its army in control of war-ravaged south Lebanon with the help of U.N. peacekeepers, military officials on both sides of the conflict said.

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[emanualhyman]

Abe 124, perhaps the reason Israeli soldiers are not smiling is, having risked their lives, seen comrades killed in combat, perhaps civilian relatives by indiscriminate rocket attack, perhaps their business or homes in the north decimated, all they have in hand is a useless UN resolution which says the UN will intervene when Lebanon asks. Lebanon, which has become Hizbula, says, not us, Hizbula can hang around in the south and carry weapons as long as they are concealed. Perhaps they are not smiling because they were sold our for a useless piece of paper. And perhaps Israelis are not smiling because nothing has been done to prevent them from being attacked again. Israel is told to use diplomatic channels. This is what happens every time when Israel does. The message is clear. Israel is grateful for all forms of support from the U.S., but, when it comes to surviving, with G-ds help, Israel will need to do what it needs to do to survive the continuing attempts to destroy Israel and its citizens lives on its own. Israel has spent the decade ans a half pursuing peace. Any further initiative needs to come from the other side, with action and not words. For those of you who remember Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown and pulling it at the last minute so Charlie Brown falls of his head, Israel is getting tired of having the ball yanked out from under it.

[abe124]

For a change of climate and perhaps a light breeze of truth, catch BBC on TV if you can. You may notice the returning Israeli soldiers are not as joyful as our media portrays. Most appeared despondent, shameful or angry at their leaders. This form of reaction is natural from any decent human being who was forced to kill women and children in the name of defending his homeland.

[abe124]

The mass media hysteria in our country appeared to center around Hezbollah's tiny rockets. Frankly, they looked like pellet gun compared to Israel's big guns destroying the whole of Lebanon. This form of deception is frightening when it comes from the mainstream media which is morally responsible to tell nothing but the truth. When truth is lost, everyone loses in the long run.

[emanualhyman]

trkmalki, Prisoners in Israeli jails are there because they either killed Israelis or were caught trying to kill Israelis (fortunately, most terror attempts are discovered before Israelis are killed). Israel%u2019s experience with prisoner releases is that many of those released again either kill or try to kill Israelis. There is no parallel to kidnapping an Israeli soldier in Israeli territory. If you do consider yourself at war with Israel, expect the consequences of war.

[trkmalki]

so...how is responsible of murdering civilians..?!!!
ok..lets suppose that hezboulla is responsible (whene they took the israelians soldiers) and the reaction of this action was DESTROY ALL LEBAON...
there is 10,000 of palastinans ,lebanese and other arabes prisoners in israel...
the question is :HOW MANY TIMES WE SHOULD DESTROY ISRAEL?..

[jag2ya]

The media and Mr Bush have not lost any opportunity to educate us about the source(s) of Hezbollah's funding and weapons. Which begs the question: Where does Israel get its weapons and military funding? According to U.S. figures, Israel has received an average of about $2 billion a year in military aid since 1971. One-third of the entire U.S. aid budget currently goes to Israel. How is it possible for the U.S. to be an honest broker for peace in the Middle East when its weapons have been used to kill a thousand people and destroy most of southern Lebanon? I think US owes money to Lebanon in reconstructing the damaged part. What makes the difference anyways between two leaders when both celebrate the destruction?

[jag2ya]

The media and Mr Bush have not lost any opportunity to educate us about the source(s) of Hezbollah's funding and weapons. Which begs the question: Where does Israel get its weapons and military funding? According to U.S. figures, Israel has received an average of about $2 billion a year in military aid since 1971. One-third of the entire U.S. aid budget currently goes to Israel. How is it possible for the U.S. to be an honest broker for peace in the Middle East when its weapons have been used to kill a thousand people and destroy most of southern Lebanon? I think US owes money to Lebanon in reconstructing the damaged part. What makes the difference anyways between two leaders when both celebrate the destruction?

[jag2ya]

The media and Mr Bush have not lost any opportunity to educate us about the source(s) of Hezbollah's funding and weapons. Which begs the question: Where does Israel get its weapons and military funding? According to U.S. figures, Israel has received an average of about $2 billion a year in military aid since 1971. One-third of the entire U.S. aid budget currently goes to Israel. How is it possible for the U.S. to be an honest broker for peace in the Middle East when its weapons have been used to kill a thousand people and destroy most of southern Lebanon? I think US owes money to Lebanon in reconstructing the damaged part. What makes the difference anyways between two leaders when both celebrate the destruction?

[grazinggoat]

Mr manualhyman
I would like to tell you, that never ever any nation of the Authentic Middle-East Have refused or Kicked-Out any Jew (Authentic Ones), those who believe in a (Unique) God. They just cannot support any fake artefact that the Jewry is trying to dress up with, unnecessarily, that is Zionism, fake modernism, and fake democracy. All pretensions to make the others feel inferior and bring them to the imitation stage, where if not authentic, they act very badly. In order to please, please whom? The world is made of different nations tolerating each others. Take Lebanon for example is a Great Nation. Tolerance for example is a distinct signature of this nation. Where in the world so many ethnic groups have survived so peacefully? Relatively at least! Remind the world of the 17 officially recognized ethnic group-religions, with all their freedom of practice. It%u2019s in Lebanon where mosque minarets, church bells and silent synagogues repeatedly sing the song of God. Countless political factions are also flourishing, all in respect and peace evolution.
see continued 2 please

[grazinggoat]

Continued 2
Of course there are some frictions here and there, but never the big mass pogroms or ethnic cleansing that we saw in Europe in the middle of last Century%u2026 where up to 6,000,000 Jews and 25,000,000 or so millions others have been pretended killed in the course of the World War II. You see why the Arab world is so proud of Lebanon and the Lebanese people? It%u2019s a raw model of democracy combining the old and the modern. The hope is knitted there between two mountains and a brook.

Back to the Middle East, Jews have always been present in those lands, surviving and prospering altogether, with the locals, not to say they were a very important part of the Middle East tribal populations, so locals themselves. They have brought a big deal of contributions to the development of the Middle East. The way they are imposing their biased views, and accusing the others of bad faith (Terrorism and the sort%u2026) is so indigestible by the locals. It%u2019s only one land. If you kick somebody from his land in order to replace him with another under the pretext of being in an Urgent project called Zionism, don%u2019t expect but a verbal reaction that may develop into a physical acts of self defence and land recuperation.