SOUTH LEBANON - The Lebanese army and UNIFIL have completed preparations for a gradual deployment in Khiyam after clearing it of unexploded ordnance and redeploying in the checkpoints that had been evacuated before the Israeli ground incursion.

Following the retreatment of the Israeli occupation forces from the outskirts of the border city towards Sarda in the Wazzani plain, dozens of families are waiting for the moment to reenter their war-ravaged city to retrieve the bodies of martyrs from the rubble and rebuild their homes.
The redeployment of the Lebanese army in northern Khiyam coincided with an Israeli Hermes drone martyring 3 citizens who were checking their homes. 

Najib Mikati, the caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister, has described the attack as “a blatant betrayal that violates all the pledges made by the parties that sponsored the ceasefire agreement. The United States and France are required to declare a clear position on what happened and to curb the Israeli aggression.”

The steadfast town of Khiyam has an honorable history of defending the Lebanese territory and confronting the Israeli enemy. Every inch of the land in Khiyam tells a story of heroism and the name of an honorable martyr is engraved on every stone.

The city has suffered greatly as a result of the Israeli occupation since the 1982 invasion, when the enemy turned its military barracks into detention centers, and practiced the most heinous forms of torture until the liberation in 2000.

During the 2006 war, the Khiyam plain was the cemetery of the Merkava. Khiyam proved to be resistant to defeat.  Since October 2023, the heroic scene has been repeated as Khiyam has sacrificed its best heroes for the sake of Palestine. 

After Khiyam, the Lebanese army is expected to be redeployed in all eastern border towns as the enemy postpones the implementation of the truce within 60 days. It is doing what it failed to do during the war as it continues to bombard homes.

In 72 hours, the Israeli enemy destroyed 80% of the capabilities of the Syrian army, which will need an entire generation to rebuild. Will the Lebanese army be able to protect Lebanon?

It is not surprising that the Lebanese army will fail to do so as the Zionist-American colonialism does not want powerful armies in the region, plain and simple. Hence, Observers believe that the re-deployment of the Lebanese army will not prevent the continuation of Israeli violations.

Since the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon in 2005, Lebanon’s pro-US political factions have prevented the Lebanese army from cooperating with any country that Washington does not like. The best evidence of this is what happened in 2008 when Vladimir Putin decided to give Lebanon MiG-29 fighter jets, tanks, and artillery with weapons and ammunition. Washington, however, quickly thwarted it along with various other offers.

Instead of confronting the US-Israeli hegemony, Lebanese Army Commander Joseph Aoun presents himself as a presidential candidate who seeks not to anger Washington.