IDF Withdrawal The withdrawal of the IDF from occupied southern Lebanon eventually took place in four stages. The first occurred in the Marjayoun area on 11 Apr 78. This withdrawal included the Khardala Bridge and the villages of Kaoukaba and Ebel El Saqi, but did not include the villages of Marjayoun and El Khiam. The second withdrawal stage took place on 14 Apr 78 and included an area from a point on the Litani River two km west of Akiya Bridge to a depth of approximately five-six km including the main road through En Taibe. In the third withdrawal on 30 Apr 78 the IDF moved to the 10 km deep security belt they seized on their initial advance across the border on 14-15 Mar 78. As in the case with previous stages, the process was verified by UNIFIL Observers. On 13 Jun 78, the IDF withdrew from the remaining occupied territory. Unfortunately this last phase of the IDF withdrawal posed a major problem for UNIFIL. Instead of handing over evacuated areas to UNIFIL as had been done previously, the IDF turned over most of the evacuated area to the Christian de facto Forces in the area. The territory involved ran for the most part along the 1948 agreed Israel-Lebanon Armistice demarcation line. This area encompassed Sunni and Shiah Moslem villages as well as Christian enclaves.
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