More than 640,000 displaced Lebanese have returned home since fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah eased in late June, local media outlet An-Nahar reported, citing the International Organization for Migration.

According to the IOM, 646,107 people have returned to their towns and villages since June 22, out of more than one million displaced people recorded by Lebanese authorities since Hezbollah opened the Lebanese front on March 2 in support of Iran.

The returns come ahead of the first steps toward implementing the framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel, signed on June 26 in Washington. The text provides for an Israeli withdrawal from two pilot areas, their handover to the Lebanese army, and the disarmament of non-state armed groups.

According to An-Nahar, Lebanese authorities are awaiting the start of the Israeli withdrawal. The outlet added that U.S. General Joseph Clearfield, currently in Israel, is expected to return to Lebanon to discuss the timetable for the Israeli pullback and the handover of the two pilot areas to the Lebanese army.

– Joseph Aoun defends the framework agreement –

Iran-backed Hezbollah refuses to disarm and rejects the framework agreement. Israel, for its part, says its full withdrawal will depend on Hezbollah’s disarmament and the end of the threat to northern Israel.

On Friday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who initiated the talks with Israel that led to the agreement, defended the text. He said the agreement “does not legalize the continued Israeli occupation of Lebanon”, but should allow the Lebanese army “to extend its control over all Lebanese territory”.

In an apparent swipe at Hezbollah, he also said the decision to separate Lebanon’s path from the confrontation between Iran and the United States was a problem for “those who have grown used to tutelage”.

The returns mainly concern areas where security conditions already allow residents to go back. In towns and villages close to the border, return still depends on the Israeli withdrawal, the deployment of the Lebanese army and the question of Hezbollah’s weapons.