South Lebanese demand state help as Israel leaves

MAROUN AL-RAS, Lebanon, Oct 1 (Reuters) The news that Israeli forces had withdrawn from his south Lebanese village in the early hours of the morning did little to cheer Mohammed Fares as he stood on the roof of his flattened home.

''What am I supposed to be happy about?'' he said in answer to whether he was happy the Israeli forces had left his town.

''We're sitting on the rubble. We need financial assistance before winter comes in two months.'' Maroun al-Ras is almost deserted. A one-lane street runs down the village and only a handful of people have returned to see what is left of their homes. Most buildings have been reduced to piles of rubble.

Lebanon has won pledges of billions of dollars in aid, mainly from wealthy oil-producing Arab states, but Fares and many others in the village say the government has yet to provide them with compensation to rebuild their homes.

''They can't fool us with just a blanket and a kilogram of rice and lentils,'' Fares said, sighing in despair as he pointed to a four by four metre (yard) room where he and 20 family members are sheltering.

Israeli forces have gradually been withdrawing from south Lebanon after a 34-day war with Hizbollah guerrillas killed around 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

today, Israel pulled out all remaining troops apart from those in one small border village.

A UN-brokered truce ended the fighting on August. 14. The war was sparked when Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

''We have seen nothing from the government. I need clothes for my children, I burned them all after we came back to find the Israelis had used them when they were staying in our house,'' said Fatima Nayef, 43, a mother of 10.

10,000 dollars NOT ENOUGH Since the truce, south Lebanese have gradually been returning to their homes in the border villages which saw some of the worst fighting.

''I have no feelings left in me. Whether they (Israeli forces) go or stay, it doesn't make a difference,'' said Yousef Fares, 68, a father of eight.

''What happened, happened. But the government has to help us out,'' he said, ''Even if they give me 10,000 dollars, I'll tear it up in front of them,'' as he used bricks to close up a gaping one-metre hole in his garage's right wall caused by an Israeli rocket.

Hizbollah is hugely popular among Lebanese in the south, even among those who complain of a lack of government aid.

The group has pledged to give enough cash to rent and furnish an apartment for a year to the homeless from 15,000 destroyed dwellings. But in some areas, residents say they have yet to get help either from the government or Hizbollah.

In Marwaheen, one of the last sites from which Israeli forces withdrew today, Mohammed Mohammed's rubble-strewn house was littered with snacks, juice cartons and water bottles which the Israelis left behind.

''They were living in our house. But now we're back to our home, our land. Israel is the enemy. Hizbollah is the one that defended the south and it is our protector,'' he said.

Nayef and her sister Adeeba, who said 16 relatives had died in the war, still remained steadfastly committed to Hizbollah.

''The important thing is we won and our heads are held up high,'' Adeeba said. ''If it weren't for Hizbollah we wouldn't even have come back to our homes.'' REUTERS SY PM2138