Thousands of civilians began to return to war-ravaged communities around Beirut and southern Lebanon yesterday, as a U.S.-backed cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah took tenuous hold after more than 13 months of bloodshed.
In northern Israel, where tens of thousands of people had fled to escape barrages of Hezbollah rockets and drones, there was no apparent rush back to the evacuated towns, where residents and the Israeli authorities were wary of the truce.
Hezbollah will struggle to convince anyone other than its most fervent loyalists that its acceptance of a cease-fire is not a defeat.
Israel's military said that its soldiers had opened fire after identifying a vehicle in a zone prohibited for movement, raising doubts about the cease-fire's durability.
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