Wednesday May 24, 2000 1:23 AM ET Hizbollah Celebrates End of Israeli Occupation By Miral Fahmy MARJAYOUN, Lebanon (Reuters) - Hizbollah guerrillas fired into the air in celebration as they advanced toward the Israeli border after Israel ended its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon Wednesday, witnesses said. The Muslim Shi'ite guerrillas in cars and on foot moved into the Christian town of Marjayoun, the largest residential center in a now defunct occupation zone and the last area to be vacated by Israel and its allies. Church bells tolled as nervous residents lined streets after a sleepless night to watch the arrival of the fighters and civilians who had fled their homes during the occupation. Many of those who stayed, and worked with the Israelis, felt bitter that they were left on their own to face an uncertain future. ``Now that we are liberated, what is the Lebanese government going to do?'' Father Fadi Salameh told Reuters as he waited outside his church in the nearby village of Qlaiaa to meet a Hizbollah representative. ``The Israelis are uncivilized. We worked for them for 22 years and look what they have done to us,'' he said. ``For 25 years we served with the Israelis side-by-side. Our men died in bombs set for them,'' said Hanna, a Christian resident. More than 1,600 people, most of them former members of the SLA militia that acted as Israel's proxy in the area and their families, crowded to the Fatma Gate on the border awaiting permission to cross into Israel. The thud of explosions and buzzing of military warplanes overhead died down shortly before the Israeli army announced that it had pulled out its last soldiers from Lebanon. Israeli troops poured back over the border after evacuating a key base at the Crusader-era Beaufort Castle under artillery and air cover. Witnesses reported a huge explosion rocking the area of the castle. The Israeli military's withdrawal, which had been scheduled for July 7, was hastily brought forward when the SLA (South Lebanon Army) militia collapsed before the advancing Hizbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak accused Syria, the dominant power in Lebanon and with Iran a backer of Hizbollah, of doing all it could to sabotage the withdrawal. Hizbollah's ``Glorious Victory'' Hizbollah, the Lebanese guerrilla movement that played a key role in fighting Israeli troops, shared the triumph with dozens of Lebanese prisoners liberated from the notorious SLA-run Khiam jail. ``We congratulate them on their freedom. This is the first glorious victory in 50 years of Arab-Israeli conflict,'' Hizbollah Secretary General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told hundreds of followers at his Beirut headquarters. ``Our people and our resistance have changed Israel's calculations and forced it to retreat much more rapidly than it had planned,'' he added. The advancing Hizbollah systematically took over many villages and military strongpoints abandoned by the SLA, some of whose members have sought refuge in Israel. Israel's hold on south Lebanon collapsed Tuesday, with the last stronghold of its local militia crumbling and villagers forcing their way into Khiam prison. They freed more than 100 prisoners, amid scenes of wild jubilation. At Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel, Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh shrugged off Hizbollah's gains as ``temporary'' and said Israel's security would be enhanced by the withdrawal. Celebrating Lebanese took to the streets in Beirut. ``This is a great victory for our country and the resistance brought that honor for us,'' said Ali, a 32-year-old shopkeeper in the Shi'ite southern suburbs. Syria said the withdrawal proved Israel had failed to achieve its objectives through occupation and would find no peace until it gave up all Arab land. Israel first crossed into Lebanon in 1978 to stop attacks by Palestinians who had been housed in refugee camps since the creation of the Jewish state 30 years earlier. It set up its security zone in south Lebanon in 1985 and armed its SLA allies to defend it.