Lebanese Forces Welcome Sight In South

Troops Deploy South Of Litani; 3,500 Troops Pledged For U.N. Force

(CBS/AP) 
Abu Hussein Awad, a 58-year-old Shiite, claims the distinction of being the Lebanese civilian who lives closest to Israel. His house backs up against the Fatima Gate where Israeli troops withdrew in 2000, ending an 18-year occupation of south Lebanon.

“The army is good, I'm glad they're here,” said Awad, who has lived here for 50 years — most of the time Israel has been in existence.

He was asked if he supported Hezbollah.

“I'm Lebanese. I don't like Hezbollah ... . I love Lebanon only — not America, not Iran and not Syria — just Lebanon,” he said, listing the key backers of the combatants in the war.

The area of Lebanon's border with Israel was in ruins. In the towns of Adaisse and Taibeh, south and west of Kfar Kila respectively, it was difficult to find a building that was not blackened, pockmarked by artillery or flattened altogether.

Wreckage was strewn through the streets, but new Hezbollah flags flapped in the wind over piles of rubble. In Kfar Kila, young men hung giant yellow banners above intersections. They read: “Rice, they will not see your new Mideast” and “The Great Lebanon has defeated the murderers.” Both were signed, Hezbollah.

The only traffic in the towns was young bearded men zipping around piles of wreckage on motorcycles. They spoke quietly into two-way radios, occasionally dismounted to kiss one another on both cheeks, then zipped away. One had a handgun tucked into his belt. Another threw an AK-47 rifle into the back of a pickup truck when a reporter approached.

“I am a Hezbollah fighter, and this is my town,” proclaimed 35-year-old Ahmed, who declined to give his full name because he feared retribution from Israel. His voice echoed off the shells of vacant, gnarled buildings in Adaisse's main square.

Ahmed pointed to one charred building after another. “That is where 18 of them (Israeli soldiers) died, and five more there,” he said, pointing to buildings off the town square. “That over there is my business, a bookshop.”

“Why did they (the Israelis) come? Why did they do this?” Ahmed screamed, his cement block house in shambles. “Next time the Israelis come, we'll fight again for sure.” He broke open a 6-pack of mineral water he said he snatched from next to the bodies of Israeli soldiers killed days ago here.

Among the soldiers who will be taking up positions in villages like Adaisse and Taibeh was Cpl. Muhammed Abdul Rahim. The 42-year-old Lebanese army ranger from Tripoli, in the far north of the country, said he felt “like a new man today.”

“It's a difficult mission, and the times now are still dangerous. I think we have one more week of danger in this country,” he said.

The arrival of Adbul Rahim and his comrades was welcomed.

“We've been waiting for 30 years for this army to come,” said George Najm, a 23-year-old wedding singer from Qleia. “Today is a new beginning.”

“Lebanon is a beautiful country,” Najm said as he looked over the valley toward Israel. “But it's been a pretty difficult place to live for the past month.”