A T FIRST the mood in Lebanon was jubilant. Thousands of people jumped into their cars and drove south on the morning of November 27th, hours after a ceasefire ended the year-long war between Israel and Hizbullah, a Shia militia. They were eager to return to homes from which they had fled months earlier.

Israel said it had targeted militants headed to a rocket facility, but neither Israel nor Hezbollah seemed keen to immediately return to full-scale fighting.

The Israeli military says its warplanes have fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility.