South Lebanese mayors, residents protest Israeli demolitions

<p>Dozens of residents and local officials from southern Lebanon gathered in Beirut on Thursday to protest Israel's destruction of their villages, which has been ongoing despite a fragile ceasefire.</p><p>Before and after the truce agreed on April 17 in the war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has been carrying out demolitions in the south and preventing the return of residents to more than 50 villages.</p><p>"We can't go back. It's been bulldozed -- basically there's nothing to go back to," Ibrahim Hamza, the mayor of the coastal town of Naqura, told AFP.</p>