BEIRUT, Lebanon: Southern Lebanon’s people on Sunday have expressed relief and victory after Israeli troop pullout from an area which was largely devastated by its imposed 34-day war against Lebanon.

Talking amid a crowd of cheerful neighbors who had gathered to discuss the news, a 28-year-old farmer in the border village of Marun Ar-Ras Hamad Faris said: "This is a great victory for the Lebanese in the south and for Hezbollah -- we will organize a great party … I am very happy. I will be able to go back to my fields and cultivate my land."

On Sunday morning, villagers were relieved to see that the Israeli flag which had flown for weeks on a hilltop overlooking their border village of Marwaheen was no longer there.

Marwaheen suffered great devastation and death during the war.

Returning residents on early Sunday began to check on their destroyed homes on the flanks of a nearby hilltop which was now free from occupation. On the Hamames border hilltop, lying under the largely destroyed village of Khiam, inhabitants also rushed to check on their fields.

"This is the first time I have come here since the war," said Mohammed Ahmad. "Until yesterday there were Israeli soldiers. Now we are free to come to our land."