Kat Lonsdorf

Many of the more than one million people displaced in Lebanon during this war have headed back to the south, where much of the fighting was happening, despite warnings not to.

But Israel is still occupying about 10 percent of the country after destroying whole villages to create what it calls a buffer zone to keep Hezbollah from firing rockets into Israel.

Lebanese people from those villages cannot return.

Kat Wansdorf, NPR News, Beirut.

Calling the ceasefire an achievement, President Aoun said his one determined and clear mission was to save his country and his people.

Lebanon will not be anyone's battlefield, he said.

He said that he had three objectives going forward, to end Israeli military aggression, a withdrawal of the Israeli military occupation, and for there to be one unified Lebanon.

The Lebanese government and the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah have been at odds about direct negotiations with Israel.

Israel, meanwhile, has said it will remain occupying a large swath of Lebanon's south throughout the ceasefire and possibly beyond.

More than a million people have been displaced by this war in Lebanon, and many cannot return home.

Kat Lonsdorff, NPR News, Beirut.

NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports from Beirut.

Hussein Farhat fled his home early in the war and has been staying in central Beirut.

He told NPR now he might venture back to his home and shop to check on them, but he won't be staying for good yet.

It's heartbreaking to just visit your home and then leave again, he says.

But for many of the more than one million people in Lebanon displaced by this war, they don't have homes to go back to.

Israel remains occupying whole villages in the south to create what it calls a buffer zone to keep Hezbollah from firing rockets at its population.

After the ceasefire was announced yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated, quote, we are not leaving.

Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Beirut.

Yeah, well, so far it seems to be holding.