In 1978 the Israeli army crossed into Lebanon and did not leave until twenty-two years later. Since that time Southern Lebanon has seen little but trouble. In the 1980s, Hizbollah took the lead as the armed resistence against the Israeli occupation, and is recognized by the Lebanese government as a legitimate resistence movement. In May 2000, Hizbollah's resistence bore fruit, when the Israeli army was forced to leave Lebanon ahead of its own planned withdrawal because a collapse of its proxy militia, the SLA. A picture of Beaufort castle, a crusader-era castle that was used by the Israeli army as a fortress for its troops inside Lebanon, taken from the town of Arnoun shortly before Arnoun was forcibly added to Israel's self-proclaimed "Security Zone" in Southern Lebanon. Israeli soldiers look for roadside bombs outside Beaufort castle. Aly Ahmad and his daughter Noor at their home in Arnoun, a town that was annexed into the Israeli self-proclaimed "Security Zone" in Southern Lebanon about a month after this picture was taken. Ahmad was detained and questioned in Khiam prison in the Israeli occupied zone for 58 days until he was released in November 1998. Though Khiam is notorious among Lebanese and human rights groups, Ahmad says that even though he was detained without basis, he was not badly mistreated while in prison. Two soldiers from the Israeli-sponsored Southern Lebanon Army (SLA) pray in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary before withdrawing from Jezzine, a Christian enclave, in the early morning hours of June 3, 1999. The SLA were forced to withdraw from Jezzine, which they had occupied since 1985, because of successful Hizbollah attacks against them. Tracers mark the path of anti-aircraft fire over the American University of Beirut as the Lebanese army tries unsuccessfully to shoot down Israeli jets flying in Lebanese airspace after the Hizbollah and Israel traded attacks earlier on June 24, 1999. Hassan Harb, age 10, lies unconscious in the operating room of a hospital in Nabatieh Lebanon, while being treated for wounds suffered when three shells from a nearby SLA-Israeli outpost exploded at his school in Arab Salim village, close to the Israeli occupation zone. Norwegian United Nations Peacekeeper Corporal Richard Hanssen keeps a lookout for Israeli and Lebanese resistance activity from his UN observation outpost in Israeli occupied Lebanon. A Hizbollah fighter displays some of his gear at an open house for journalists. Hizbollah is recognized by the Lebanese government as the legitimate resistance against the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon. The funeral procession on August 17, 1999, for Ali Hassan Deeb, a Hizbollah leader better known as Abu Hassan, who was killed in his car by roadside bombs in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. A woman watches a Hizbollah-sponsored parade in Nabatieh. Nabatieh is in view of Israeli-occupied outposts in the mountains and the areas around the city was sometimes shelled by the Israelis in retaliation for Hizbollah attacks. Hizbollah was recognized by the Lebanese government as the legitimate resistance against the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon. Women supporters of Hizbollah display pictures of family members killed in the Lebanese resistence against the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon. A man shows off fragments of a shell that landed near a house in the village of Yohmor a few hours earlier. Lebanese hospitality never takes a rest--only hours after her house was nearly hit by incoming artillery fire, a woman pours coffee for grateful journalists. Members of the Hizbollah-trained and supported multi-faith "Lebanese Resistence Brigades" train in live-fire exercises somewhere in the anti-Lebanon mountain range. Lebanese firefighters battle a blaze at the Jamhour power station near Beirut after it was bombed by Israeli planes in the early hours of February 8, 2000. Lebanese commuters make donations to the Hizbollah in the middle of a busy intersection in Beirut. Hizbollah's resistance activities against the Israeli occupation enjoy wide support from the Lebanese population. Traffic runs between Houla and Markaba despite Israelis shelling and and attacks by a helicopter gunship, on the first day of the Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon. Several civilians were killed during the withdrawal, including a driver working for the BBC. Women throw rice and flower pedals on the first new arrivals to the town of Markaba, minutes after it was liberated from 22 years of Israeli occupation. A man loads his car with items taken from the headquarters for Israel and its proxy army, the SLA, the morning it was abandoned by the occupying forces. Women look into the solitary confinement cells of the notorious Khiam Prison, which held Lebanese political prisoners without trial during the Israeli occupation. A near-hysterical Ghada Khoury, 24, after her house was destroyed by an exploding munitions dump. The Israelis detonated the dump without warning nearby residents, though the dump was located in a residential area. As this picture was taken the stockpile was still exploding randomly. Ghada spent four hours through the night sheltering inside her bathroom with her children, until the explosions subsided enough so that she could escape from the house. Ghada is a Lebanese Christian living in Qlaya. All photographs on swallace.wirephoto.com are copyright Stephen Wallace and may not be republished or redistributed in any form without permission.