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Socialist Worker’s reporting team in south Lebanon, Simon Assaf and Guy Smallman, travelled alongside the refugees as they flooded back to their homes early last week. They document the mass movement in the articles making up our Lebanon Report through this week’s paper.

The victory for the resistance in Lebanon is a major blow against both Israeli aggression and George Bush’s plans for a "new Middle East".

Guy Smallman is in Beirut to document the human cost of the war for Socialist Worker - here is his diary and photographs for this week

"The Arab people now consider Hizbollah to be heroes because they are confronting the enemy Israel and protecting their land... Even if Hizbollah were destroyed, another Hizbollah would emerge within a year or two somewhere else - maybe in Jordan, in Syria, in Egypt or in Iraq."

A guerilla army a few thousand strong has humbled the fifth most powerful army on Earth, backed by the world’s strongest superpower.

It is too early to judge how solid is the ceasefire agreed upon in the second Lebanon war. But it is already possible to draw some initial conclusions - the most important of which is the resounding Israeli military failure.

Politically things are moving very fast. It’s already clear that we have a historic chance to build a new workers’ movement that transcends sectarian divisions out of the rubble of Lebanon.

There’s a sense of elation all around Damascus, a mood of victory.

Lebanese journalist Omar Nachabe's eyewitness video of the destruction of villages in south Lebanon including Bint Jbeil. He was one of a number of journalists who entered Bint Jbeil to discover civilians still living amongst the rubble of their destroyed town.

Israel claims its war on Lebanon was triggered by Hizbollah’s capture of two Israeli soldiers, and says it holds only two Lebanese prisoners.

Some 100,000 people showed their outrage at the slaughter in Lebanon and Gaza on the march in central London on Saturday 5 August. Here are reports, photos and video of the event.

The present dismal reality unfolding in the Middle East has clear historical roots and a journey into the past may help to illuminate what lies behind the destructive policies of Israel in both Palestine and Lebanon.