Israel orders evacuation of southern Lebanon villages as ground attacks begin | Lebanon

Israeli officials have ordered residents of about 30 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate. This is the first concrete demand since the military launched what it called “limited, localized and targeted ground attacks” against Hezbollah on Monday.

Israel began its incursion, which it called Operation Northern Arrow, with a barrage of fire across the blue line separating Israel and Lebanon and said it would send ground troops against targets in villages near the border that “pose an imminent threat.” for communities in northern Israel.”

The ground attack marks the first time Israeli troops have launched sustained operations in Lebanon since 2006, when the two countries signed a peace deal that ended a 34-day war between Israel and the Shiite militia Hezbollah, which controls much of southern Lebanon.

In a statement, an Israeli military spokesman called on residents of villages north of the Awali River, nearly 35 miles from the blue line, to evacuate as Israel Defense Forces attack what they described as Hezbollah “attack infrastructure” along the The border between Israel and Israel is called Lebanon.

“The IDF does not want to harm you, and for your own safety you must evacuate your homes immediately,” Avichay Adraee posted on X, adding that any home used by Hezbollah would be targeted.

It is unclear why Israel asked residents of certain southern towns and non-neighboring towns to leave, nor is it clear why it ordered them to go so far north. “Be careful, you can’t go south. “If you go south, life is in danger,” the statement said. “We will let you know when it is safe to return home.”

Burj al-Shemali, a city of about 60,000 people in southern Lebanon that was included in Israel’s evacuation order, received calls telling residents to leave, prompting many to flee, Ali Deeb, the mayor, told the Guardian.

“Some went to Tyre, others to the river Awali. Others stayed because they had no place to go or lacked the money to leave,” he said, adding that “everyone” in the city was afraid.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the scope of the Israeli ground operation remained unclear. Israeli air strikes on targets in Beirut and shelling in southern Lebanon continued overnight, and Lebanese rescue workers said they had recovered 25 bodies and rescued 13 wounded people since 8 p.m. Monday.

Local residents told Reuters that at least 600 people had sought refuge in a monastery in the town of Rmeish as Israeli airstrikes continued on Lebanon.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati met with UN officials on Tuesday and said it was “one of the most dangerous periods in (Lebanon’s) history”. He also claimed that “about a million of our people have been displaced due to the devastating war that Israel is waging in Lebanon.”

Small Israeli commandos crossed the blue line to take part in the raid, Israeli officials confirmed. But the army appeared to have sent no tanks or other armored units across the border and had mobilized only one brigade as part of the operation, making its scope significantly more limited than the year-long war in Gaza.

Both Israeli and Hezbollah officials said there were no direct clashes between fighters from either side. And it is unclear whether the Israeli government intends to occupy territory in southern Lebanon, depopulate it to create a buffer zone, or conduct raids and then withdraw across the blue line that has marked the border since 2006.

Still, international officials have expressed concerns that Israel could further escalate the offensive, potentially leading to a protracted conflict in southern Lebanon with similar results to previous major wars in 2006 and 1982.

“We fear that a large-scale ground invasion by Israel in Lebanon would only lead to greater suffering,” Liz Throssell, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy called for an immediate ceasefire and warned that “none of us want to return to the years when Israel was stuck in the swamp in southern Lebanon.”

“None of us want to see a regional war,” Lammy said in remarks broadcast by the BBC. “The cost to the Middle East would be enormous and would have a significant impact on the global economy.”

At the same time, U.S. officials have expressed cautious support for the operation, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin agreeing with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “on the need to dismantle Hezbollah’s attack infrastructure along the border.”

In a late-night phone call between the two sides, Austin “reaffirmed U.S. support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and other Iranian-backed terrorist organizations,” according to the reading telephone conversation.

A US-French proposal had called for a 21-day ceasefire to allow negotiations between Israel and Hezbollah. US President Joe Biden had also personally spoken out in favor of a ceasefire and, when asked about a possible ground offensive on Monday, said: “I agree that they should stop.” We should have a ceasefire now.”

Hours later, the IDF launched incursions into southern Lebanon. Israeli military officials announced a series of restrictions on Tuesday that they said were due to security concerns after Hezbollah fired rockets at Tel Aviv and other towns and villages in central Israel. These included closing beaches, restricting private and public gatherings, and closing workplaces and educational institutions that do not have access to bomb shelters.

The Israeli offensive followed a series of Israeli successes against Hezbollah that appear to have emboldened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take action against the Iran-backed organization despite significant diplomatic efforts to avert an escalation of the war.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli attack on Beirut on Friday, dealing a major blow to the militant group and raising fears that Israel could be preparing for a ground offensive in Lebanon and that the conflict was spreading to the center could East.

Two weeks of strikes followed that began with the explosion of Hezbollah members’ pagers and walkie-talkies, killing dozens of people and wounding thousands more. Since then, Israel has continued to bomb Beirut and also carried out attacks on Yemen and Syria.

Israel has struck targets in Syria and Yemen and said it is launching attacks against Iran-backed militias across the Middle East.