“Around 170 Lebanese citizens, including 44 collaborators, who had sought refuge in “Israel” after its May withdrawal, returned home on Thursday.
It was the largest single group to cross the border from “Israel” since the end of the occupation.
Up to 6,000 “Israeli” agents, their families and many other civilians fled their homes during the “Israeli” pullout, fearing bloody reprisals at the hands of the resistance.
More than 200 Lebanese have returned home in the past two weeks alone, encouraged by the calm that has prevailed in the liberated areas since the pullout.
The first convoy of three UNIFIL buses carrying the returnees from the border arrived at Naqoura Port, 4 kilometers away at 11.30am on Thursday.
A fourth bus carried their luggage. Civilian and military cars driven by Internal Security Forces and Army Intelligence personnel led the convoy.
Three more buses arrived an hour later, bringing the total to around 170 men, women and children.
Army troops kept relatives from approaching the port’s gate and also kept photographers and journalists at a distance.
Routine measures were followed to admit the returnees, including a quick baggage search. The collaborators were separated from everyone else.
Three army trucks transported the militiamen to a barracks in nearby Tyre, where they will stay until they are questioned by military investigators.
Separately, a military court on Thursday sentenced four elderly men to six months in jail for collaborating with “Israel”.
The four, all aged over 70, were all “Israeli” agents.
They were already in custody when the court handed down the sentences.
They were the 31st batch of collaborators to appear before the court since it started looking into cases of collaboration with “Israel” on June 5.
The military court, headed by Brigadier Maher Safieddine, has sentenced more than 1,100 people to jail terms ranging between a few months and several years. A few convicts, mostly tried in absentia, were sentenced to 15 years.

The Daily Star, 6-10-2000.