TEL AVIV: Israel's military warned residents of 10 villages, most of them in southern Lebanon, on Monday to evacuate their homes ahead of expected strikes against alleged Hezbollah targets. "In light of Hezbollah's violation of the ceasefire agreement, the Israel Defence Forces are compelled to operate against it with force," the military's Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said in a social media post, listing the names of the villages. "For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move at least 1,000 metres away from these towns and villages to open areas."
Later on Monday, Adraee issued another evacuation warning directed at residents of a building in Rashidiyeh and two buildings in Burj al-Shamali, near the city of Tyre. "We urge residents of the building marked in red on the attached map, as well as nearby buildings: you are located near a facility used by the Hezbollah," he wrote on X. "For your safety, you must evacuate immediately and move at least 300 metres away."
Israel has repeatedly targeted what it says are Hezbollah-linked sites in Tyre, causing extensive damage in several areas and prompting many residents to flee the city. Despite a ceasefire that came into effect on April 17, Israel and Hezbollah have continued to exchange fire on a near-daily basis.
According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli strikes since early March have killed more than 3,100 people. The Israeli military also announced on Monday that a soldier had been killed the previous day in southern Lebanon. That brings the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the outbreak of hostilities with Hezbollah to 23. One civilian contractor has also been killed.
Israel's two far-right ministers on Monday called for an escalation of military operations in Lebanon, with one advocating strikes on Beirut in response to Hezbollah's drone attacks. "It is time for the prime minister to take a firm stand with Donald Trump and tell him that Israel is returning to war in Lebanon," National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said on X. "Electricity to Lebanon must be cut off, the Zahrani must be seized, and intensive warfare resumed," he said, referring to a river in southern Lebanon which runs further north than current Israeli ground operations.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, also from the far right, called for strikes on Beirut to counter Hezbollah's drone attacks on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and across the border. "There is an urgent need to put an end to the threat posed by Hezbollah's explosive drones," Smotrich said on Telegram. "For every explosive drone, 10 buildings must fall in Beirut." Smotrich said he had approved a special budget of approximately two billion Israeli shekels ($692 million) to enable the defence establishment to develop countermeasures against the drones.
Meanwhile, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday said Israel's withdrawal from the country's south was a "non-negotiable" demand that authorities would pursue through negotiations, days ahead of a new round of talks in Washington. In a statement commemorating Israel's previous withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000 after some two decades of occupation, Aoun said that "this year, the anniversary of the liberation comes as Lebanon is weighed down by a painful reality."
"Israeli attacks have not stopped and our dear southern villages are still suffering under a renewed occupation," he said. "Lebanon will not accept this reality," Aoun said. "The path to a full Israeli withdrawal will remain an uncompromised, constant national demand that the Lebanese state works to achieve through the option of negotiations," he added. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
