"The nightmare is over," stated Abdul Latif Ghaith, 60, a local resident. "Good riddance."

Initially, imperialist-led United Nations forces in the area tried to block the convoy of cars and marchers from entering the so-called Israeli security zone. But, as the Washington Post reported, "the Lebanese, too numerous to control, either drove or walked around them."

The 2,600-member South Lebanon Army (SLA), which the Israeli government created and armed, rapidly disintegrated as its militia members retreated, surrendered, deserted, or tried to flee to asylum in Israel, abandoning their ammunition and artillery as they left. The Israeli air force fired on the crowds in a futile effort to halt their advance, and attempted to destroy artillery pieces left behind by fleeing SLA members. Lebanese fighters celebrated their victory by riding abandoned Israeli tanks through village after village that had previously been under tight Israeli military control.

Israel's prime minister Ehud Barak had earlier announced plans to withdraw Israeli forces from southern Lebanon by July 7. But these recent developments forced them to get out six weeks ahead of schedule.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government has requested more UN troops be sent into the 11-mile deep zone inside Lebanon from which Israeli forces withdrew. UN secretary general Kofi Annan asked the Security Council to bolster the 4,500-member UN force currently in South Lebanon with 3,400 additional soldiers. But under pressure from Paris and other governments with troops already there, UN officials said they will take a wait-and-see approach to the situation.

Bemoaning this recent turn of events, an editorial in the May 24 Wall Street Journal said, "Critics of Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon have long compared that policy to America's ill-fated involvement in Vietnam. The comparison is especially apt now that Israel's withdrawal has turned into a rout." The editors called this "the greatest military humiliation in the country's history," which occurs as protests by Palestinians against Israeli occupation of the West Bank are once again on the rise.  
 
 
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