When Israel and Hezbollah signed a temporary truce in November, the agreement was called as the first step towards the end of the most deadly wars in Lebanon in decades.

Both Hezbollah and Israel agreed to withdraw their forces from South Lebanon within 60 days. The Lebanese Army and the UN Peace Forces would provide the area. And if the truce, the negotiators hoped that the agreement would become permanent, returning the measure of calm to the turbulent region.

But as a 60 -day ceasefire expired on Sunday, a very different scenario was shaped.

Israeli forces seemed to remain in parts of southern Lebanon, wiping the fears among Lebanese Sustainable Israeli occupation and renewed hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. Avoiding these perspectives is a critical test for new Lebane Lebanon, president Joseph Aoun and the prime minister-dose Nawaf Salamwhile trying to return to political control from Hezbollah, the dominant political and military force of the country.

Any long -standing Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon could breathe a new life in Hezbollah, a group based on the liberation of Lebanon from Israeli occupation and that has shown itself as the only force able to protect the Lebanese border, experts say.

He also threatens to destroy the current political momentum in Lebanon, where for the first time in the decade, there is a serious pressure on consolidation all military power within the state, and they are justified by Hezbollah’s justification for his huge Arsenal.

The focus in Lebanon is now “disarmed Hezbollah and the transition from an era in which Hezbollah was seen as the right to acquire weapons,” said Mohanad Hage Ali, Deputy Director of Research at the Middle East Center Carnegie in Beirut. Any long -lasting Israeli occupation “would put a break on that momentum, which is organic,” he added.

Israeli officials cited the concern that Hezbollah remains active in southern Lebanon and doubt The ability of the Lebanese army to arrive group. Hezbollah officials did not respond to these accusations, but said that they were “committed” to support the trial terms.

On Saturday, officials of the Lebanese army said they were ready to complete their deployment in the south, but that they delayed “as a result of delay in withdrawal by the Israeli enemy,” the Lebanese army states.

The 60-day truck came into force more than a year after Hezbollah began shooting rockets according to Israeli positions in solidarity with its federal hamas, a Palestinian militant group in Gaza, which led on October 7, 2023, an attack on Israel. Israel revenge The murder of Hezbollah’s leadershipleveling cities and villages along the border and invasion of southern Lebanon.

Prior to Sunday’s Rok, thousands of Lebanese who were displaced by war from the houses along the southern border were preparing to return home. On Saturday, the main highway leading from the capital, Beirut, to South Lebanon, was full of cars. Few people seemed to distract the news of the Israeli forces that remained in parts of the south or automated telephone calls of the Israeli army on Saturday, warning them not to return home.

“You are forbidden to return home until further notice,” said the automated voice. “Anyone who drives south brings life to danger.”

The Israeli forces seemed to continue the efforts that persisted during a certificate of 60 days to block the roads and block roads between some villages in southern Lebanon, according to local media. Israel is currently occupying approximately 70 percent of the area that has captured after attacked Lebanon last fall, According to the Peace Forces of the United Nations in South Lebanon.

The Lebanese army also warned of the dangers of unexploded orders in some villages and cities. Still, few Lebanonians turned away from returning home.

“People in the country will force them,” said Abed Al Karim Hasan, a banana farmer in Maaliye, a village in southern Lebanon, whose home was destroyed during the war. “If I had a house there, I would go there tomorrow.”

Hezbollah did not say that he plans to respond to the continuous interest of the Lebanese soil of Israel. On Friday, hezbollah officials warned in a statement that if the Israeli forces remained in Lebanon after Sunday, it would “attack on Lebanese sovereignty and the beginning of the new chapter of occupation.”

Some lawyers of Hezbollah vowed to retaliation. But other officials from Hezbollah – who has been military and politically beaten in recent months – instead transferred the responsibility to respond to Israel to the Lebanese government. The group’s statement on Friday states that it is on the state “to regain the land and get it out of the admixture of occupation.”

This transfer of responsibility is a tried tactic for Hezbollah, which only called the state a few months ago to secure thousands of Lebanese displaced by the war into which it has drawn the land. However, a political posture from the group whose founding principle resists Israeli occupation reflects Hezbollah’s currently weakened state.

After 14 months of fighting, the military ranks of Shiite Muslim groups are full, and his faithful support base is tired after several months of dispute and destruction. His protector Iran also weakened Israel, throwing suspicion of Iran’s ability to provide millions of dollars for the renovation of the Homes of Hezbollah in Lebanon, as he did after the monthly war of Hezbollah with Israel in 2006.

And in neighboring Syria, the rebels demolished the Iranian ally, dictator Bashara al-Assad, cutting down Hezbollah’s land bridge to receive weapons and money from Iran.

These blows are discharged by Hezbollah’s once iron understand political power in Lebanon, transferring political sand in the country for the first time in decades. Earlier this month, the Lebanese legislators elected a new president, Mr. Aoun, after years of political snack, which many analysts attributed to Hezbollah. For days later, the legislators appointed Mr. Salam, a distinguished diplomat that Hezbollah had long opposed, as a prime minister.

In a country where a greater political decision was made for years without Hezbollah’s blessing, these events stood out how much soil the group lost.

But experts in the Middle East have warned that he still does not write off Hezbollah’s political weight. And if Israel continues to occupy Lebanon, he could revive the mostly Shiite Muslim supporting base of the group because he seeks a patron and protector against Israeli forces.

“I believe that neither side has an interest in the continuation of the war,” said Nader Sami, director of the Political Science Institute at Saint Joseph in Beirut. “But as long as Israel occupies Lebanon, he revives the narrative of Hezbollah.”

Sara Chaito contributed to reporting.