BEIRUT, June 27 (Xinhua) -- As television screens showed the signing of a U.S.-brokered framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel in Washington, Abu Ali Jalal Awada sat quietly in the modest apartment in southern Lebanon where his family has been living since fleeing the border town of Khiam.
He paid little attention to the speeches marking what officials described as a diplomatic milestone. Instead, his thoughts were fixed on a place nearly 30 km away -- the home he was forced to abandon months ago.
"Has our ordeal really come to an end?" Awada asked. "Will everyone abide by this agreement, or will disagreements emerge during its implementation?"
For Awada, the agreement is not simply a political document. It represents a chance to return to the life he left behind.
His hopes mirror those of thousands of displaced residents across southern Lebanon. For many, the agreement marks the start of a test: can diplomacy restore security, enable families to return home, and revive devastated communities?
The framework agreement, signed at the end of the latest round of ambassador-level talks in Washington, D.C. on Friday, called again for the implementation of a fragile ceasefire between the two Mideast nations.
Yet for many residents of southern Lebanon, attention has already shifted from the signing ceremony to what will happen on the ground in the days and months ahead.
Across the border region, the challenges remain immense. Dozens of areas sustained extensive damage during the conflict, with homes, roads, schools, and water and electricity networks either destroyed or severely damaged.
Today, areas in southern Lebanon, including Kfar Kila, Adaisseh and Mays al-Jabal, remain marked by widespread destruction. Some neighborhoods lie in ruins, while damaged infrastructure and limited public services continue to delay the return of displaced families.
For 60-year-old Hazem Farhat, who fled from Dibbine to Ain Qenia in the Hasbaya district in southern Lebanon, returning home matters more than the agreement's political language.
"What we want is simple," he said. "We want to return to our homes and our land. We hope this agreement will make that possible and launch a real reconstruction process that allows us to rebuild our lives and secure our children's future."
Others say experience has taught them to temper optimism with caution.
Displaced resident Salwa Hamid said previous initiatives had failed to produce lasting stability. "We have heard about many agreements before. What matters now is seeing real changes on the ground, not simply promises."
On Saturday, the concerns were underscored by fresh attacks. According to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, an Israeli drone struck a junction in the town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa in southern Lebanon, and another dropped a stun grenade near the outskirts of the town of Kfar Tebnit
For many families, returning home also means recovering livelihoods lost during the conflict.
In the town of Daher al-Ahmar in eastern Lebanon, displaced farmer Jamal Dhib harvested apricots in an orchard owned by a local resident who has hosted his family since they fled their village.
"The war took away not only our house but also our source of income," he said. "The land was our life. Only if it is restored and cultivated again will any agreement truly change our reality. We want to return to our fields before anything else."
For others, however, the losses went beyond homes and livelihoods.
Inside her temporary residence in the eastern Lebanese town of Al-Rafid, 50-year-old Najla Hamdan held photographs of her two sons, both killed during the conflict.
"No agreement can compensate for losing my children," she said. "But I hope it prevents other families from experiencing the same pain and allows people to return safely to their villages."
Beyond their individual stories, many residents were asking the same question: whether the agreement would translate into meaningful change.
University lecturer Hossam Moussa believes residents will ultimately judge the agreement by what it changes in their daily lives.
"The people of the south are looking beyond political statements," he said. "They want to see displaced families returning home, reconstruction projects beginning, agriculture recovering, and schools and health centers reopening. Those are the standards by which they will evaluate this agreement." ■
