October 2, 2003	Thursday	Sha’aban 5, 1424

BEIRUT, Oct 1: Nineteen Lebanese who fled to Israel in its May 2000 troop pullout from southern Lebanon following 22 years of occupation returned home on Wednesday, Lebanese police sources said.

The group crossed the border at Naqoura in UN peacekeeping force vehicles and were driven to the first Lebanese army post, they said.

After brief questioning, four women and eight children were allowed to return home in the Christian villages of Qlaiaa, Alma Shaab and Rmeich in the former Israeli-occupied southern strip.

Seven men who were former members of the now disbanded South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia were detained for further questioning, police said.

Following Israel’s pullout, some 6,500 people — mostly SLA members and their families — fled to Israel for fear of reprisals by the Shia Muslim guerrilla group Hezbollah, or of facing criminal charges. Since then, 4,236 have returned to Lebanon, according to Lebanese police figures.—dpa