STORY: Displaced Lebanese rush home after ceasefire, facing joy, loss, and uncertainty
SHOOTING TIME: Nov. 28, 2024
DATELINE: Nov. 29, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:42
LOCATION: Beirut/Damascus
CATEGORY: OTHERS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of main roads in various Lebanese regions open to traffic
2. STANDUP (English) XIE HAO, Xinhua Correspondent
3. SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): ALI CHOUMAN, Displaced southerner
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): HUSSEIN RAHAL, Resident of the southern suburbs of Beirut
5. SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): FATIMA HOTEIT, Displaced southerner
6. various of the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing

STORYLINE:

After a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect early Wednesday, calm starts to resume across the border areas in southern Lebanon.

The ceasefire ensures that the Lebanese army will take control of the territory near its border with Israel over the next 60 days. Israel will gradually withdraw its troops from the region, and civilians will return home.

The main roads in various Lebanese regions, now open, are witnessing heavy traffic.

A large number of the displaced are returning to their towns in southern and eastern Lebanon to check on their homes and properties.

STANDUP (English) XIE HAO, Xinhua Correspondent
"On the very day that the ceasefire agreement went into effect, we could see that people could not wait to return to their homes, which even though may have been destroyed in the Israeli attacks. The highway from Beirut to southern Lebanon was already jammed, with many people strapping mattresses and furniture to the roofs of their cars as they made their way south."

SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): ALI CHOUMAN, Displaced southerner
"For us, our steadfastness is a victory by itself. The second issue is that the Israelis cannot defeat us."

SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): HUSSEIN RAHAL, Resident of the southern suburbs of Beirut
"The boys on the front were amazing, and they were behind the ceasefire, which was a good sign for the benefit of Lebanon because the Israelis were killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure, and it is in the mercy of the people that the ceasefire happened."

SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): FATIMA HOTEIT, Displaced southerner
"Of course, it is a huge victory. If it weren't for the fighters and their steadfastness and the trust we put in them, the ceasefire would not have happened today. It is a big happy event, though filled with sorrow as we lost too many people we love and very dear to us, but life has to go on. 
Despite our sadness, it is a big victory for us. We are steadfast, and people are returning to the south starting this (Wednesday) morning."

Meanwhile, the ceasefire also prompts thousands of Lebanese seeking refuge in Syria during recent hostilities to return home.

A Syrian official said a total of 5,900 Lebanese nationals left Syria through the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing by Thursday noon.

Syrian authorities recently reopened the Jdeidet Yabous crossing after repairing damage caused by an Israeli airstrike.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beirut/Damascus.
(XHTV)