By james art 
Meanwhile, the Israeli army has confirmed it will not complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon until Sunday, as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement.
The agreement, which took effect at the end of November, gave both sides 60 days to remove their forces from southern Lebanon and for the Lebanese army to move in and secure the area, along with UN peacekeepers.
Israel claims that Hezbollah and the Lebanese army have failed in their duties, while Lebanon accuses the Israeli army of preventing the Lebanese army from taking control.
The Israeli military said the deal was progressing. But some sectors say it has “slowed down and will take a little longer”.
The Lebanese military said it had deployed to areas following the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and in a statement on Saturday accused the Israeli military of “slowing down” its withdrawal from other areas.
Washington appears to favor extending this withdrawal phase.
While Lebanese army soldiers are scattered in the south-west sector, Israeli troops remain in control of most of the south-east sector.
Members of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (Unifil) said Israeli tanks and bulldozers unexpectedly moved in and set up several roadblocks, apparently in an attempt to prevent displaced Lebanese from trying to return to their villages.
In Mays al-Jabal, peacekeepers from a Nepalese battalion watched from their position along the UN-mandated Blue Line as an Israeli jet flew overhead following the sound of what they said was Israeli-controlled demolition of a building.
There are no residents left in that city, and most of the buildings seen by Associated Press journalists have been reduced to rubble or sunk after intense Israeli shelling and airstrikes followed by clashes during its ground invasion.
The few that remain have broken walls and are badly damaged. Piles of rubble and debris along the road make it impossible for civilian vehicles to enter the town that was once home to several thousand people.
The scene is similar in neighboring towns, including Blida and Aitarun, where almost all buildings have collapsed into mounds of rubble and none of the residents have returned.
The peacekeepers tried to request permission to pass through the roadblocks, but were not authorized to do so. An AP crew that joined Unifil on patrol was stranded as a result.
“There is still a lot of IDF (Israeli army) activity in the area,” said Maj. Dinesh Bhandari of Unifil’s Nepali battalion in Mays al-Jabal overlooking the Blue Line.
“We are waiting for the end of the conflict and then we will support the deployment of the LAF (Lebanese Army) in this position.”
Asked about weapons belonging to Hezbollah, Major Bhandari said they found caches of weapons, ammunition and mines in some structures during their patrols.
Israel claims it is removing the remaining infrastructure left by the Hezbollah militant group, which has a strong military and political presence in the south. After its ground invasion of Lebanon, Israel said it also targeted a network of tunnels and carried out widespread demolition of buildings in a handful of border towns.
Lebanese authorities have complained that the Israeli army is also destroying civilian homes and infrastructure.
Speaking to French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun pointed to “the destruction of villages adjacent to the southern border and the destruction of land by bulldozers, which will prevent residents from returning to their areas,” according to the state-run National News Agency. .
France, along with the US, is the guarantor of the ceasefire agreement.
About 112,000 Lebanese remain displaced out of more than one million displaced during the war. Large areas of southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut, were destroyed by Israeli bombing.