JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military warned people Tuesday to evacuate nearly two dozen Lebanese border towns, hours after announcing the start of “limited” ground operations against Hezbollah. The armed group denied the entry of Israeli forces into Lebanon.
Israel advised people to evacuate north of the Awali River, about 60 kilometers (36 miles) from the border and well beyond the Litani River, which marks the northern edge of the city. An area declared by the United Nations This was intended to serve as a buffer zone between Israel and Hezbollah after the 2006 war.
The statement, published by the Israeli army spokesman in Arabic, Avichay Adraee, on platform The warning applies to communities south of the Litani.
The border area has largely emptied over the past year as the two sides exchanged fire. But the scope of the evacuation warning has raised questions about the depth of Israel’s plans to send its forces into Lebanon as it presses ahead with its rapidly escalating campaign against Hezbollah.
In anticipation of more missile attacks from Hezbollah, the Israeli army announced new restrictions on public gatherings and closed beaches.
Questions were raised about the entry of Israeli forces
An Associated Press reporter saw Israeli forces operating near the border in armored trucks, with helicopters flying overhead, but was unable to confirm that ground forces had crossed into Lebanon.
Before the Israeli announcement of the incursion, US officials said on Monday that Israel described launching small ground raids inside Lebanon while preparing for a broader operation.
Neither the Lebanese army nor the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL, which patrols southern Lebanon, confirmed the entry of Israeli forces. UNIFIL said that any such cross-border operation would be a “dangerous development” and a violation of Lebanese sovereignty.
In his first statement since Israel announced the start of ground operations, Hezbollah spokesman Muhammad Afif denied what he said were “false allegations” about an Israeli incursion. He said that Hezbollah is ready “for direct confrontation with enemy forces that dare to enter Lebanon or attempt to enter it.”
Admiral Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesman, claimed that forces were launching “local ground raids” on Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon to ensure that Israeli citizens were able to return to their homes in the north.
In a press conference later in the day, he said that Israel had carried out dozens of small ground operations inside Lebanon since October 8, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel after the outbreak of war in Gaza.
He said that Israeli forces crossed the border to collect information and destroy Hezbollah’s infrastructure, including tunnels and arsenals. He showed photos purportedly showing Israeli soldiers inside homes in southern Lebanon. These allegations could not immediately be confirmed.
An Israeli military official said that the forces participating in the latest incursion were close to the border and were concentrated in villages hundreds of meters away from Israel. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations, said there had been no clashes yet with Hezbollah fighters.
Israeli army He was accused of lying to the media in 2021 When it issued a statement it implied that ground forces had entered Gaza. The army downplayed the incident as a misunderstanding, but well-sourced military commentators in Israel said it was part of a ploy to draw Hamas into the battle.
Israel bombs more targets and Hezbollah fires rockets
Israeli artillery units bombed targets in southern Lebanon during the night, and the sounds of air strikes were heard throughout Beirut.
The Israeli military official said that Hezbollah fired rockets into central Israel, causing sirens to sound and wounding a man in his fifties. Hezbollah said it fired shots from a new type of medium-range missile called Fadi 4 at the headquarters of two Israeli intelligence agencies near Tel Aviv.
Afif, Hezbollah’s spokesman, said the missile attack was “only the beginning.”
The Israeli military official said that Hezbollah also fired projectiles at Israeli towns near the border, targeting soldiers but without wounding anyone.
Hezbollah began firing missiles at northern Israel shortly after Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 sparked the war in Gaza. Israel launched retaliatory air strikes, and the conflict steadily escalated. In recent weeks, Israel launched a punitive wave of air strikes on large parts of Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed A number of its senior leaders, as well as many civilians.
Hajri said that the UN Security Council resolution that ended the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 had not been implemented and that southern Lebanon was “infested with Hezbollah terrorists and its weapons.”
This decision called on Hezbollah to withdraw from the area between the border and the Litani River, and also called on the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeeping forces to patrol the area. Israel says these and other provisions were never implemented. Lebanon has long accused Israel of violating other provisions of the resolution.
An Israeli official says there are no plans to head to Beirut
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday that his country is ready to deploy the army in support of the resolution if a ceasefire is reached. The Lebanese Armed Forces will not be able to impose an agreement on the more powerful Hezbollah.
Military statements indicate that Israel may focus its ground operations on the narrow strip along the border, rather than launching a larger invasion aimed at destroying Hezbollah, as it did in Gaza against the Palestinian Hamas movement.
The military official said that marching to Beirut, as Israeli forces did during their invasion of Lebanon in 1982, “is not on the table.”
Hezbollah and Hamas are close allies supported by Iran, and each escalation over the past year has raised fears of a broader war in the Middle East that could drag Iran and the United States, which are fighting a broader war in the Middle East, into it. Military assets rushed to the area In support of Israel.
The incursion comes after weeks of heavy strikes by Israel against Hezbollah – including an airstrike that killed its leader Hassan Nasrallah – and seeks to intensify pressure on the group. The last time Israel and Hezbollah engaged in ground combat was for a month War in 2006.
There was no word on how long the operation would take, but the army said that soldiers had been training and preparing for the mission in recent months.
More than a thousand people were killed in Lebanon in Israeli raids during the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Ministry of Health. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes.
Hezbollah is a well-trained militia that is believed to have tens of thousands of fighters and an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles. The last round of fighting in 2006 ended in a stalemate, and the two sides have spent the past two decades preparing for the next confrontation.
The recent air strikes eliminated most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership Explosions of hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies Reports indicating a Hezbollah affiliation indicate that Israel has infiltrated deep into the party’s upper levels.
Hezbollah pledged on Monday to continue fighting even after its recent losses. The group’s acting leader, Naeem Qassem, said in a televised statement on Monday that Hezbollah leaders killed in recent weeks have already been replaced.
European countries began withdrawing their diplomats and citizens from Lebanon. A plane chartered by the British government is scheduled to leave Beirut on Wednesday to evacuate British citizens. The UK also sent 700 troops to a base on the neighboring island of Cyprus to prepare for the possible evacuation of an estimated 5,000 British citizens in Lebanon.
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Marwa reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Karim Chehayeb in Beirut contributed.
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This story corrects the name of Hezbollah spokesman.
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