Events of the Liberation on the 21st of May 2000

Liberation sequence began early on 21/5/2000, against a complete absence of any stands or statements by enemy political or military officials, or any announcement of the defeat whose momentum was quickly gathering pace.

Meanwhile, two battalions of the collaborators militia in the central sector declared their surrender.

Supported by Islamic Resistance groups, people from various regions, especially those from occupied villagers, began their preparation for a human invasion and for the liberation of villages and towns, after their forced displacement lasted many long years by the occupation forces, which failed, after launching a series of land, air and sea attacks, to prevent the citizens' march of return.

The multitude of civilians marched from Ghandouriyeh town in the direction of the liberated town of Qantara. Headed by two members of the Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc and MPs Mr. Abdullah Qassir and Mr. Nazih Mansour, a procession of nearly two hundred people reached Qantara town. It was the first time they entered it since 1978.

By then the collaborators militia had withdrawn from their positions adjacent to town. This was the gateway for the local population to return to other towns like al-Taybeh, Deyr Siriyan, Alman and Adsheet. At the time, the people weren't aware that the Taybeh post was still occupied by a number of collaborators; as they headed toward it, and in an attempt to force the people into retreat, the collaborators bombed the perimeter of their own post with several shells, while two Zionist Apache helicopters hovered overhead.

It was learned that the collaborators inside split up into two groups, one group left towards al-Edayseh town and other posts, the other surrendered to the people.
This was the first post in the occupied territories, under UNIFIL forces' supervision, to be vacated.

The occupation forces evacuated the Hamra - Naqoura check point and moved it 1,500 meters away towards Naqoura town; thereby Biyout al-Siyyad town in the western sector was also liberated.
Al-Muhaysibat post was also evacuated in the process.

A Zionist television reporter described the withdrawal from al-Taybeh as a "Dramatic development" and said "Within minutes after the arrival of dozens of people, Al-Taybeh sank in a sea of Hizbullah flags. By noon the number of protesters arriving in the town was not small, they took the form of a civilian march. The UNIFIL failed to prevent them, and in minutes a forest of Hizbullah flags appeared."
The reporter added that "Despite the aerial support for al-Taybeh post, the militia evacuated it, leaving an armored personnel carrier and perhaps a tank."

Enemy occupation leadership expressed surprise at the people of al-Taybeh town for joining the Hizbullah flag raising operation.

Alongside the human march, another march of a kind was taking place, the fleeing of large numbers of militia collaborators, reaching eighty within a week, which contributed to accelerating the collapse of the posts and thus sped up the liberation of villages.

Militia leadership admitted to the escapes and claimed that it would keep its troops to "defend the region."

The occupying forces attempted to deter the citizens from continuing their marches by air, land and sea bombing of the outskirts of southern coastal villages. Within half an hour, two "Israeli" battleships bombed, with about twenty shells, the outskirts of Mansouri, Biyout Siyyad and Majdal Zuen towns, with one shell landing near the UNIFIL Fijian post, while warplanes launched six air-to-land missiles on the periphery of the town of Yater.