TAYR HARFA, Lebanon: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam visited heavily damaged towns near the Israeli border on Saturday, pledging reconstruction.
It was his first trip to the southern border area since the army said it finished disarming Hezbollah there, in January.
Swathes of south Lebanon’s border areas remain in ruins and largely deserted more than a year after a US-brokered November 2024 ceasefire sought to end hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed group.
Lebanon’s government has committed to disarming Hezbollah, and the army last month said it had completed the first phase of its plan to do so, covering the area between the Litani River and the Israeli border about 30 kilometres (20 miles) further south.
Visiting Tayr Harfa, around three kilometres from the border, and nearby Yarine, Salam said frontier towns and villages had suffered “a true catastrophe”.
He vowed authorities would begin key projects including restoring roads, communications networks and water in the two towns.
Locals gathered on the rubble of buildings to greet Salam and the delegation of accompanying officials in nearby Dhayra, some waving Lebanese flags.
In a meeting in Bint Jbeil, further east, with officials including lawmakers from Hezbollah and its ally the Amal movement, Salam said authorities
would “rehabilitate 32 kilometres of roads, reconnect the severed communications network, repair water infrastructure” and power lines in the district.
