Israel Attacks Southern Lebanon after New Evacuation Warning

Israel carried out heavy airstrikes in south Lebanon on Sunday after issuing new evacuation warnings for villages beyond the area it occupies, despite a truce with Lebanon intended to halt fighting with Hezbollah. “For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move away from the villages and towns by at least 1,000 meters into open areas,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X. The warning covers more than 10 villages and towns including several in the district of Nabatieh, which lies north of the Litani River, south of which Israel has stationed troops. Israeli military chief of staff Eyal Zamir has threatened to strike Hezbollah “beyond the yellow line.” “Any threat, anywhere, against our communities or our forces — including beyond the yellow line and north of the Litani — will be eliminated,” he said during a visit to Israeli troops this week. The Israeli military said Sunday it was conducting operations against Hezbollah following what it described ⁠as a violation of their April 17 ceasefire agreement, warning that anyone near Hezbollah fighters or facilities could be at risk. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency later reported a series of Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon, including on towns not mentioned in the evacuation warning. Hezbollah, has kept up its drone and rocket attacks against Israeli troops in Lebanon and on northern Israel. It has recently begun using cheap drones controlled by fiber-optic cable, making them largely immune to electronic jamming, to conduct daily attacks. These drones have a range of several dozen kilometers, which puts Israeli troops in Lebanon and communities in northern Israel under threat.