The Israeli military has launched its largest wave of airstrikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah, simultaneously targeting southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and the northern region near Syria in nearly a year of conflict.
Asked by reporters about a possible Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon, Daniel Hagari said that “we will do whatever is necessary” to allow evacuated residents of northern Israel to return home safely, a wartime priority for the Israeli government.
The latest attacks come amid some of the heaviest cross-border firefights in a conflict that is raging alongside the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Hagari called on residents of southern Lebanon to stay away from Hezbollah posts.
Hagari said Hezbollah had over the years hidden weapons, including cruise missiles, in homes and buildings throughout southern Lebanon, and called on residents to stay away from such sites.
Hagari presented at a news conference aerial video of what he described as Hezbollah operatives attempting to launch cruise missiles from a civilian home in Lebanon, and the Israeli strike that followed moments before it was launched.
“Hezbollah is putting you in danger. It is putting you and your families in danger,” Hagari said.
He said Israel began striking Hezbollah positions in Lebanon after identifying an intention to fire on Israel.
Israeli warplanes carried out a heavy wave of airstrikes on towns along Lebanon’s southern border and further north on Monday morning, Reuters witnesses said.
Reuters journalists in the southern port city of Tyre could hear warplanes flying low over southern Lebanon and heard a series of airstrikes nearby.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV channel reported Israeli airstrikes targeting the outskirts of many towns and villages in the south and the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon. Images showed columns of smoke rising over the south.
In addition to the strikes on the Bekaa Valley region in eastern Lebanon, warplanes also carried out airstrikes on the Hermel region in northern Lebanon, Hezbollah’s al-Manar reported.
Hezbollah and Israel exchanged heavy fire on Sunday, as the Lebanese militant group fired rockets deep into northern Israeli territory after facing intense bombardment.
Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem told mourners at the funeral of one of the group’s commanders killed last week in Beirut: “We have entered a new phase, the title of which is the open battle of judgment.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said operations would continue until evacuees on his side of the border could return safely, setting the stage for a protracted conflict as Iran-backed Hezbollah vowed to keep fighting until a ceasefire in the parallel Gaza war is reached.
The conflict, which escalated sharply last week, has been raging since Hezbollah opened a second front against Israel, saying it was acting in support of Palestinians facing an Israeli offensive further south in Gaza.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah operatives exploded. The attack was widely blamed on Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.
