Events of the Liberation on the 22nd of May 2000

The Lahed militia's withdrawal from a number of positions in the central sector gave way to the liberation of the villages of Kounin, Beit Yahoun, R'shaf, Houla, Banihayyan, Tallousah, Markaba, M'haybib, Mays Al Jabal, Edayseh and Blida, which saw a number of its people return to the village in spite of land and air bombardment by occupation and collaborators to prevent them from reaching the town.

The Collaborators positioned at the "17" barracks in Saffelhawa, under the command of collaborator Yusuf Hashim started firing on the returning citizens who tried to advance from Beit Yahoun toward Kounin, Aynata and Bint Jbeil. One citizen Reda Saad was hit, the rest retreated and scattered in the area between Tibnin and Beit Yahoun. Meanwhile, the resistance was raising its flags atop Barasheet outpost and combed the Haddatha outpost.

At nearly 6:30 A.M., a group of citizens accompanied by member of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Nazih Mansour attempted to advance from Beit Yahoun towards Kounin were fired on by Zionist helicopters hence most of them decided to remain in Beit Yahoun.

The Beit Yahoun outpost shelling left Ibrahim Maroni (15 years) from Shakra town, Ali Abdul Latif Assaf and Abdul-Karim Assaf martyrs, and wounded Bassem Moussa Birji, Hossam Farhaat, Ibrahim Ali Shihab, Jafar Hussein Farhaat, Nariman Samir Ghuteimi, Ibrahim Mohammad Shirri, Haleem Riad Da'ieah, Ali Hussein Tarraf, Abbas Souli, Sadiq Farhaat, Ghaleb Khalil Baydoun and Nabih Muhammad Ali Bzaih.

Bombing R'shaf town also led to the martyrdom of Hussein Ali Karneeb and Ali Jaffal who was driving a bulldozer in an attempt to open the Edayseh- Taybeh Road. Suleiman Abdul Rasoul Rammal was also martyred by the explosion of a shell fired by an enemy tank in Edayseh.

Zionist warships also bombed Hardoun outpost in the western sector destroying it completely; at which case the militia members withdrew through the coastal Ras Bayada crossing and from some villages in the western sector. The occupation barred the people of the towns of Bint Jbeil and Aynata from entering their home towns, the citizens had to spend the night on the outskirts of the area as a prelude to its liberation.

The Barasheet collaborators bombed their outpost after evacuating it. It was also bombed from Saffelhawa and M'haybib outposts. Two "Israeli" helicopters also attacked and combed its surrounding area injuring Hussein Mahmoud Abbas, Ali Ahmad Shihab, Hassan Ali Ismail, Hussein Abdelmajid Shihab, Naji Ahmad Jarjir, Hussein Mahmoud Shihab, Salah Abd Jaffal and Hussein Ali Sabra.

The people of Shibaa town gathered to free their town via the western heights of Mount Al Sheikh (Harmon). They pointed out that the purpose of this assembly was to mobilize all civilian human resources in a kind of popular resistance to support military resistance, based on a national patriotic sense, as an action under the heading of Islamic and national Resistance and not beyond it, and to respond to the appeal released by the Secretary General of Hizbullah, in which he urged collaborators to surrender to the resistance and the Lebanese state or face the execution penalty if they insist on collaboration, betrayal and humiliation.

Entry to Mays Al Jabal was delayed until after midnight. The road connecting Shakra - Hula - Mays Al Jabal was cut off by snipers' fire, while an Apache Zionist helicopter bombed a military vehicle laden with ammunition. By this time nearly two hundred people had arrived from Beirut to participate in the town's liberation at which time 27 collaborators gave themselves over to the town's folks, 2 others escaped to Occupied Palestine, and about fifty others gathered in the Town Husseiniyat Hall in preparation for handing them over to the Lebanese authorities.

It was reported that, starting from 8:30 pm, the occupation army began gathering its military vehicles and heavy weapons from the outposts surrounding Hasbaya, Shuya, Ainqinya, Zimriya and Kaokaba in the main of Tallet Zaghleh in preparation for their withdrawal from the region.

Sharp divisions and differences broke out between the collaborator militia in Hasbaya, where 70 of them formed one group that decided to flee toward Marjayoun along with their vehicles. Another group of about 250 members decided to surrender to the official authorities of Lebanon.

Dozens of them refused to go to forward outposts, where a sharp drop in the number of protective guards was seen.