{"id":2382,"date":"2026-07-24T21:23:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T21:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/2026\/07\/24\/rt-speaks-to-lebanese-displaced-by-israeli-occupation-video\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T21:23:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T21:23:49","slug":"rt-speaks-to-lebanese-displaced-by-israeli-occupation-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=2382","title":{"rendered":"RT speaks to Lebanese displaced by Israeli occupation (VIDEO)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The residents of Zawtar El Gharbiyeh have not been allowed to return to their homes despite the IDF withdrawal<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Residents of the war-ravaged southern Lebanese village of Zawtar El Gharbiyeh say they feel <em>\u201cbetrayed\u201d<\/em> by their government after being prevented from returning home despite the start of the IDF\u2019s phased withdrawal, RT correspondent Steve Sweeney reports.<\/p>\n<p>The criticism comes as Beirut and West Jerusalem begin implementing a US-brokered agreement for an IDF pullout from several so-called \u2018pilot zones\u2019 near the Yellow Line, Israel\u2019s self-declared buffer zone in southern Lebanon. Israel has insisted that the withdrawal is contingent on Hezbollah disarming in those areas, a condition the militant group has rejected.<\/p>\n<p>Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam visited Zawtar El Gharbiyeh \u2013 which lies on the Yellow Line \u2013 on Wednesday, raising the national flag and declaring a Lebanese return to the devastated village.<\/p>\n<p>Residents camped outside, however, say they have remained blocked from returning to what is left of their homes.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n        <span><strong>Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<figure>\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mf.b37mrtl.ru\/files\/2026.06\/thumbnail\/6a43a74885f5404850100388.jpg\" alt=\"A view of the destruction as Lebanese residents return to their homes in Froun district of Nabatieh, Lebanon, June 15, 2026.\"><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/642384-lebanon-questions-israel-withdrawal-plan\/\">\u2018They haven\u2019t set foot there\u2019: Lebanese mayor questions Israeli withdrawal claim (VIDEO)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em>\u201cWe felt betrayed. We are the rightful owners of this land, and we are the ones who have sacrificed and given so much to it. We are the ones who should be entering the village and planting the Lebanese flag,\u201d<\/em> one woman told RT.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Abed Ezzedine said that local authorities had received little information about the withdrawal and that residents were still being denied access.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIf things stay as they are, it means Israel will remain there for a long time,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, all three of the \u2018pilot zones\u2019 selected by Israel remain close to strategically important high ground that the IDF has so far failed to seize from Hezbollah, Sweeney noted.<\/p>\n<p>Watch RT\u2019s full on-the-ground report:<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The residents of Zawtar El Gharbiyeh have not been allowed to return to their homes&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}