Lebanese Army Begins to Deploy Across South

Over more than two decades, Hezbollah's well-organized activists, advocacy on behalf of the community and reputation for a lack of corruption have instilled an almost organic relationship with Shiites in the south. Even many who welcomed the army's arrival said they found it hard to imagine Hezbollah, with or without arms, having a diminished role in their lives.

In Dibin, a shopkeeper, who had a generator propped against a door that had been blown to the side by a blast, recounted how he had fled the town at the war's start. In the month that followed, Hezbollah fighters took food from his shop -- tuna, rice, sardines and sugar. When he returned, more than 30 receipts were waiting for him, and he was paid in full, more than $1,000, he said.

"Look at my store, it's here. All my goods are here. They protected the whole place," he said.

Aid convoys organized by nongovernmental organizations and Hezbollah pressed south, where the scope of the reconstruction was laid bare in village after village. U.N. officials said two children were killed Thursday by a cluster bomb explosion in the southern town of Naqourah. Human Rights Watch said that U.N. de-miners have identified 10 locations in southern Lebanon where Israel used artillery to fire cluster bombs, which scatter smaller bombs over a wide area. It said U.N. de-mining teams feared that those sites could be the "tip of the iceberg" and criticized the use of cluster bombs in civilian areas. The Israeli military said it fired munitions within the constraints of international law.

Life began to resume its rhythm in much of the country. In Beirut, the airport reopened Thursday to commercial traffic for the first time since July 13, when it was attacked by Israeli warplanes and gunboats. A Middle East Airlines passenger jet arrived from Jordan, ending a 36-day Israeli blockade. Officials said normal traffic may resume next week.

Israel continued to grapple with the political fallout from the perceived failures of the military to win the war. Defense Minister Amir Peretz has reportedly appointed an investigating committee to review the war, but various political leaders are calling for an outside, independent commission of inquiry that could more freely criticize Peretz. Public opinion polls have faulted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and top military officials for their performance in the war, which Hezbollah has portrayed as a victory.

Pressure also mounted on the Israeli military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, to step down after the disclosure that he sold his stock portfolio hours after the war's start, in apparent anticipation of a market decline. Halutz has said he did nothing illegal.

Correspondent Doug Struck in Jerusalem and special correspondent Alia Ibrahim in Jwayya contributed to this report.