Latest Mideast Developments

In Ainata, one of many bodies is removed from a house where at least 15 people were believed buried in rubble. Rescue workers and residents returned to villages in and around Bent Jbail searching for those killed in the fighting. In Ainata, at least 15 people were believed to be buried in one house. In Bent Jbail, a family of five were still buried in the rubble.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

A group of rescue workers from Qatar make their way to a site where at least five are believed to have died.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

A woman cries as rescue workers search for five of her family members in the rubble of a home in Bent Jbail.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

Haniah Hammoudi, center, and Jamila Hammoudi, right, return to the home of their brother Mohommed Hammoudi, 66, who died in a rocket attack on his home in Ainata. They had brought a portrait of their brother from Beirut, knowing that he had died.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

A woman is helped by rescue workers after viewing the scene where at least 15 people died in one home in Ainata, a suburb of Bent Jbail.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

Haniah Hammoudi cries over the temporary grave, marked with a stone, of her brother Mohommed Hammoudi, 66, who died when a rocket hit his home. Mohammed Hammoudi lived in California most of his life and retired to Lebanon two years ago.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

A man and his family are distraught to discover the bodies of their relatives outside a home in Bent Jbail.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

In the town of Ainata, a young woman watches as rescue workers recover the bodies of at least 15 people buried in the rubble of one home.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

In the town of Ainata, the body of another war victim is recovered. Rescue workers and residents returned to villages in and around Bent Jbail searching for those killed in the fighting.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

The town of Aita Ech Schaabe was heavily hit by Israeli forces, leaving many streets in rubble. Fifteen civilians died and an unknown number of fighters.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

A man prays in the town of Aita Ech Schaabe, one of the most heavily hit towns in southern Lebanon. His family home was destroyed and his cousin remains buried in the rubble.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

A woman helps her children through the rubble in the village of Ech Chhabiye. Although towns throughout the region were heavily hit and buildings destroyed, many people began returning to their homes in Southern Lebanon on the first day of a cease-fire.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

People gather in the village of Al Shahabila where buidings were heavily damaged.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

Heavily damaged buildings provide a backdrop for people gathering in the village of Al Shahabila.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

An elderly woman waits for help at the hospital in Bent Jbail where she was during the heaviest fighting. Many people began to return to their homes in southern Lebanon on the first day of a cease-fire.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

Hassan Mansour discovers the body of his longtime friend Mohammed Hamoudi who had died in a rocket attack on his home in Ainata. Hamoudi, a political scientist from Los Angeles, had come back to Lebanon to retire two years ago.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

Radia Mansour walks through the rubble of what was her brother’s home in the village of Ainata, a suburb of Bent Jbail. Many people began to return to their homes in southern Lebanon on the first day of a cease-fire. Towns throughout the region were heavily hit and buildings destroyed.  (Carolyn Cole / LAT)

An Israeli army firefighter gets a spray to cool off while working to put out the last fire still burning in Kiryat Shmona. The blaze was started from a Hezbollah rocket that landed in Kefar Gil’adi two days before the cease-fire.  (Damon Winter / LAT)

An Israeli army firefighter holds an Israeli flag as firefighters work to put out the last fire in Kiryat Shmona started by Hezbollah rocket fire two days ago.  (Damon Winter / LAT)

An Israeli army firefighter douses a burning bus that was set ablaze by Hezbollah rocket fire two days ago in Kiryat Shmona.  (Damon Winter / LAT)

An Israeli soldier comforts another as he cries after returning to the Israeli side of the border near Manara.  (Damon Winter / LAT)

Israeli soldiers return to a staging area on the Israeli side of the border and await transport away from the front lines, two hours before the start of the cease-fire.  (Damon Winter / LAT)

An Israeli soldier, carrying a captured Hezbollah flag, embraces another after returning to the Israeli side of the border from the front lines near Manara.  (Damon Winter / LAT)

An Israeli soldier wears a captured Lebanese flag as he and other soldiers return to the Israeli side of the border from the front lines near Manara early Monday morning.  (Damon Winter / LAT)

An Israeli soldier stands on a tank during sunrise at a staging area on the Lebanese border hours before the start of the U.N. brokered cease-fire.  (Damon Winter / LAT)