Israeli warplanes have bombed southern and eastern Lebanon as locals have been warned to stay away from Hezbollah targets, as the region inches closer to all-out war.
Lebanese state media announced that “enemy warplanes had been launched” early this morning, adding later that at least one civilian had been killed.
Huge plumes of smoke have been photographed in several parts of the country’s interior, with rockets fired at areas previously unhit by attacks and witnesses reporting intense shelling.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) said residents in the capital Beirut were receiving Israeli telephone warnings telling them to evacuate.
“Citizens in Beirut and several areas are receiving warning messages via landlines from the Israeli enemy, asking them to quickly evacuate their location,” the NNA said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its aircraft struck 150 targets this morning, amid reports it was working to disrupt “major rocket attacks” on Israel.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant confirmed the Israel Defense Forces were “stepping up” attacks in Lebanon and suggested the situation would escalate, warning in a video message: “These are days when the Israeli public will have to show composure.”
People walk on a beach as smoke rises over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes
Plumes of smoke rise from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Aramti, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, on September 23, 2024.
Plumes of smoke rise over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre
Gallant further revealed on X This Morning that he provided his American counterpart with “a situational assessment of Hezbollah threats and briefed him on IDF operations to degrade Hezbollah’s ability to launch attacks against Israeli civilians.”
He added that the broader regional security situation and “threats posed by Iran and its proxies” were also discussed.
The Israel Defense Forces issued a warning to residents of villages in southern Lebanon: ‘If you are inside or near a building that Hezbollah uses to store weapons or armaments, you must evacuate that building and move away from it immediately.
“Anyone who is near Hezbollah operatives or the organization’s weapons is at risk.”
The NNA reported that there had been “more than 80 airstrikes in half an hour” against the Nabatiyeh district in southern Lebanon. It also reported attacks in the Tyre area.
At the same time, the NNA reported “intense attacks in the Bekaa Valley in the east, inside Lebanon, near the border with Syria, including in the vicinity of Baalbek and the outskirts of Hermel.
The NNA said the attacks in the east killed one “civilian,” a shepherd, “and injured two members of his family” and four other people.
A Hezbollah source, who requested anonymity, said the strikes in the Bekaa Valley targeted the area from east to west.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said: “We advise civilians in Lebanese villages located in and next to buildings and areas used by Hezbollah for military purposes, such as those used to store weapons, to immediately remove themselves from danger for their own safety.”
Plumes of smoke rise from the site of Israeli airstrikes on Lebanese villages, as seen from Marjaayoun, southern Lebanon
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on the village of Kfar Rouman, as seen from the town of Marjayoun in southern Lebanon
Plumes of smoke rise from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Marjayoun, near the Lebanese-Israeli border.
Hagari told a news conference that the Israeli military would “carry out more extensive and precise strikes against terrorist targets that have spread widely across Lebanon.”
Asked by reporters about a possible Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon, Hagari said: “We will do whatever is necessary” to get evacuated residents of northern Israel back to their homes safely, a war priority for the Israeli government.
He said Hezbollah has over the years hidden weapons, including cruise missiles, in homes and buildings across southern Lebanon, and called on residents to stay away from such sites.
At a news conference, he presented aerial video of what he described as Hezbollah operatives attempting to launch cruise missiles from a civilian home in Lebanon, and the subsequent Israeli strike moments before it was launched.
“Hezbollah is putting you in danger. It is putting you and your families in danger,” Hagari said.
An Israeli plane flies amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from northern Israel, September 23, 2024
A line of cars is seen outside Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport this morning as people are told to evacuate.
Hezbollah has exchanged cross-border fire almost daily with Israeli forces supporting Hamas since the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7 attack sparked the Gaza war.
Violence has escalated dramatically in recent days, with Israel and Hezbollah exchanging heavy fire over the weekend, raising fears of an all-out war.
Asked whether a ground invasion of southern Lebanon could be imminent, a senior Israeli military official said the IDF is “currently focusing solely on Israel’s air campaign.”
Outlining Israel’s goals in the campaign against Hezbollah, the official told reporters it wants to degrade the militants’ ability to fire rockets across the border as it has done for 11 months.
They reportedly added that they hope to push Hezbollah fighters back from the border and destroy the group’s infrastructure, which the official said would be used to attack “Israeli communities in the north, to massacre, murder and kidnap Israeli civilians.”
