Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah killed more than 180 people and wounded 700 across Lebanon on Monday, according to Lebanese authorities, in the deadliest day of conflict there since October, as the two sides edge closer to full-blown war.
The Israeli military launched strikes against hundreds of targets in Lebanon in what it said was a pre-emptive assault targeting Hezbollah’s military infrastructure. Military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the airstrikes would continue in the near term, and told residents of southern Lebanon to stay away from areas that would be targeted but didn’t identify those exact locations.
“We advise civilians from 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 move out of harm’s way for their own safety,” Hagari said.
Some residents and government officials in Lebanon reported receiving voice calls and text messages telling them to evacuate, including the minister of information, who said he received an evacuation call at his office.
Ghinage Hamieh, a 26-year-old who lives close to Nabatieh, a town in the south, said she received a phone call saying her location would be struck and that she should evacuate.
“We didn’t take this message seriously. We are in a war and this is one of its forms,” she said. Shortly after, her town was struck and she and her family began packing, debating whether to leave and where to go.
Hezbollah has fired some 150 projectiles at northern Israel in the past 24 hours, according to the Israeli military. More than 8,800 rockets, missiles and drones have been fired by Hezbollah into Israel since Oct. 8, according to Israel. The Israeli military has also struck Lebanon more than 8,000 times by air, drone, missile and artillery in the same period, according to the nonprofit Armed Conflict Location and Event Data.
Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have escalated after a series of severe blows to the U.S.-designated terrorist group last week. An Israeli strike on Friday killed the head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force and other commanders, days after explosions of walkie-talkies and pagers killed dozens and injured thousands. The escalation has raised concerns of all-out war between the two sides, which had previously engaged in tit-for-tat strikes across the border.
Israel’s somewhat vague messaging to Lebanese to evacuate swaths of territory ahead of bombardment echoes evacuation orders issued in the Gaza Strip throughout the war. In October last year, Israel urged more than one million civilians to leave the northern part of the Gaza Strip within 24 hours for the south. Months later, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, many of whom were already displaced, fled the southern city of Rafah after evacuation orders were issued ahead of a major Israeli offensive.
The Israeli military says evacuation orders are intended to move civilians out of harm’s way.
Tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese have evacuated from their homes on both sides of the border as a result of the fighting.
Israel recently added a new official war goal: ensuring that some 60,000 evacuated residents of northern Israel can return to their homes. It says it is trying to do so by pushing Hezbollah back from the border and degrading Hezbollah’s military capabilities.
“We will do whatever is needed to return the residents of the north home safely,” Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, said Monday.
Hezbollah says that its attacks against Israel since Oct. 8 are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and that it will stop firing on Israel when the conflict ends in Gaza , where tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed.
Israel launched its war against Hamas in Gaza after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage. Some 97 people taken on Oct. 7 remain held in Gaza —many of whom have died there—with cease-fire negotiations stalemated. Many family members of hostages say they fear that Israel moving on to a war with Hezbollah before securing a cease-fire for hostages deal in Gaza will seal the fate of their relatives.
The U.S. State Department on Sunday urged American citizens to leave Lebanon while commercial travel options remain available. It also said that those who choose to remain should be prepared to shelter in place if the situation deteriorates further.
—Adam Chamseddine contributed to this article.
