Druze

Without a doubt the hardest moment as a soldier was not the tenacity of a battle or the loss of a comrade but the abandoning of the South Lebanese Army (SLA) in 2000 as Israel withdrew from its positions in South Lebanon.

The memories of thousands of South Lebanese citizens trying to get across the border into Israel is something that still haunts me. I remember fights breaking out between Israeli soldiers who served in Lebanon and the border police who were trying to control the border and document everyone coming through.

A few thousand South Lebanese are now proud citizens of Israel and they only received their measely compensation package from the Israeli government last year.

Israel pulled out without properly coordinating and informing the SLA so they collapsed immediately during the pullout.

If there is another war with Hezbollah then Israel will have to retake South Lebanon and clear out everything South of the Litani river. I hope that a new and much stronger South Lebanese Army will be formed.