Two months after Israeli troops withdrew from the Lebanese village of West Zawtar, residents are living with a paradox: they have returned home, but the war remains visible and audible just across the valley.
Israeli forces still occupy neighbouring areas. Surveillance drones regularly fly over the village. Explosions echo from nearby towns as Israeli troops demolish damaged homes, while many residents remain unable to restore basic services such as electricity and running water.
West Zawtar was supposed to demonstrate whether a new US-backed approach could gradually reduce Israel’s military presence in southern Lebanon while addressing Israeli concerns over Hezbollah’s weapons.
Instead, residents say the first “pilot zone” has yet to become the model they were promised.
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The experience illustrates the central difficulty facing efforts to stabilize southern Lebanon: a military withdrawal cannot easily produce security if the underlying dispute over Hezbollah’s weapons, Israeli military positions and Lebanese state authority remains unresolved.
A Village Caught Between Withdrawal and Occupation
Mariam al-Yaghi, a 67-year-old resident of West Zawtar, returned to her home after Israeli troops withdrew from the village in July.
Her house had been badly damaged. A tank shell struck the upper floor, destroying the windows, while another damaged her water tank. Olive trees that she had cared for over decades were uprooted after military vehicles moved through her garden.
Yet Yaghi returned because remaining displaced was becoming increasingly difficult.
Israeli soldiers are still close enough for residents to hear them in the neighbouring village. Surveillance drones remain a regular presence overhead.
The physical withdrawal from West Zawtar therefore did not mark a clean break with the conflict. Instead, residents returned to a community surrounded by military activity.
For many, the question is not simply whether Israeli troops are inside their village. It is whether their departure will eventually lead to a functioning civilian community.
So far, that transition remains incomplete.
The Pilot Zone Was Meant to Offer a Way Forward
West Zawtar was the first test of a US-backed proposal under which Israel would gradually withdraw from parts of southern Lebanon in exchange for steps toward removing Hezbollah’s military capabilities.
The United States has described the pilot-zone process as the only viable route toward security for both Lebanon and Israel.
Under the proposed arrangement, the initial zone would expand if the Lebanese army successfully carried out clearance operations and addressed the presence of Hezbollah weapons.
The logic is straightforward: Israel reduces its military presence as Lebanese state forces take greater responsibility for security.
The difficulty lies in implementation.
Israel says the threat posed by Hezbollah’s weapons has not been fully removed. Lebanese residents, meanwhile, are returning to communities where infrastructure has been destroyed and where Israeli forces remain nearby.
That creates a gap between the security conditions demanded by Israel and the conditions required for civilians to rebuild their lives.
West Zawtar Has Not Yet Become a Model
West Zawtar’s mayor, Abed Ezzedine, says the pilot programme has fallen short of what residents were promised.
Around 70 families have returned, often occupying only parts of damaged homes. The Lebanese Council for the South has supplied 16 prefabricated homes to families whose properties are uninhabitable.
But many of those units remain empty because electricity and running water are not reliably available.
Electricity infrastructure is being rebuilt, but the process is complicated because the village’s previous connection passed through neighbouring East Zawtar, which remains under Israeli military control.
That means reconstruction is not simply a matter of repairing damaged buildings.
Basic civilian infrastructure is tied to the wider military geography of the area.
Until the surrounding territory becomes accessible and secure, even relatively simple tasks such as restoring electricity, repairing water systems or harvesting crops become complicated political and security questions.
The Human Cost Extends Beyond Destroyed Homes
The destruction is also disrupting the economic life of the region.
West Zawtar’s olive harvest is beginning, but residents whose groves are located close to Israeli military positions need permission to access their land.
Requests are being made through a US-led coordination mechanism linking the Lebanese and Israeli militaries.
For farmers, this creates an extraordinary situation in which access to their own olive trees depends on a military coordination process.
The problem is particularly urgent because agricultural activity is seasonal. A delayed authorization can mean losing an entire harvest.
This illustrates why the success of any security arrangement will ultimately be measured not only by troop movements but also by whether ordinary residents can safely resume economic activity.
Across the Valley, Destruction Continues
The contrast between West Zawtar and East Zawtar is particularly stark.
While Israeli forces withdrew from West Zawtar, neighbouring East Zawtar remains occupied. Residents displaced from the eastern village have gathered in West Zawtar, where they can see their former homes across the valley.
Some say they have watched Israeli forces systematically demolish buildings in the village.
For displaced residents, the destruction is not an abstract consequence of war. Their former homes remain visible from where they now live.
One resident described seeing lights inside his former house and believing Israeli troops were preparing explosives for its demolition.
The psychological effect is difficult to separate from the physical destruction.
Even when residents are technically allowed to return to one village, watching another nearby village being demolished reinforces the sense that the conflict has not ended.
Israel’s Security Argument Remains Central
Israel says its military operations are intended to prevent Hezbollah from maintaining the weapons infrastructure that it considers a threat.
The Israeli military has said its work to remove that threat is not complete and that surveillance drones are being used to identify potential threats. It also says restrictions on civilian movement are intended to protect its troops.
From Israel’s perspective, withdrawing from territory before Hezbollah’s military capabilities have been sufficiently addressed could create the conditions for the group to rebuild its infrastructure.
That concern is central to the pilot-zone arrangement.
But the same security measures that Israel considers necessary can also prevent displaced Lebanese civilians from fully returning to normal life.
This is the fundamental tension the pilot programme has yet to resolve.
Hezbollah’s Disarmament Is the Missing Piece
The broader US-backed arrangement depends heavily on Hezbollah’s disarmament.
The Lebanese state is expected to take greater responsibility for security, while Israel gradually reduces its military presence.
But Hezbollah remains a powerful armed actor in Lebanon, and the question of its weapons is closely linked to the country’s internal political balance as well as its conflict with Israel.
The United States has described Hezbollah’s disarmament as an integral part of the process.
For Israel, that is a security requirement.
For Lebanon, however, implementing such an arrangement requires the government and military to exercise authority across territory where Hezbollah has maintained a significant presence.
This makes the pilot zone more than a local security experiment. It is effectively a test of whether Lebanese state institutions can assume greater control while Israel is prepared to reduce its military footprint.
The Bigger Test for Washington
The West Zawtar experiment also places responsibility on Washington.
The United States is acting as an intermediary between Lebanon and Israel while attempting to create a framework in which security concerns and civilian reconstruction can proceed together.
But mediation becomes harder when the parties measure success differently.
Israel is likely to judge the arrangement by whether Hezbollah’s military infrastructure is removed and whether attacks against Israel are prevented.
Lebanese residents are more likely to judge it by whether they can return safely, rebuild homes, restore utilities and access their farms.
Those objectives are connected, but they are not identical.
If the security component advances without reconstruction, residents may continue to view the arrangement as incomplete. If reconstruction proceeds without resolving Israel’s concerns over Hezbollah, Israel may remain reluctant to withdraw further.
What Happens Next?
The future of the pilot-zone model will depend on whether West Zawtar can move from a military withdrawal to genuine civilian recovery.
That requires more than removing troops from a village. It requires functioning electricity and water systems, safe access to farmland, reconstruction of damaged homes and credible security arrangements that prevent renewed fighting.
It also requires progress on the larger dispute over Hezbollah’s weapons and the authority of the Lebanese state.
For now, West Zawtar remains an incomplete experiment.
Residents have returned, but Israeli forces remain close enough to hear. Drones continue to monitor the village. Across the valley, homes are still being demolished. And basic infrastructure remains unreliable.
The village therefore offers a cautionary lesson for the wider US-backed process: a military withdrawal can create the space for civilians to return, but it does not by itself create the conditions for peace.
Whether West Zawtar eventually becomes the “model town” envisioned by the pilot programme will depend on what happens after the troops leave, not simply on whether they leave.
With information from Reuters.
