Israel launches airstrikes on south Lebanon, says it's targeting Hezbollah

BEIRUT (Reuters) -The Israeli military carried out heavy airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Thursday after issuing evacuation orders for several locations, saying Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was trying to rebuild its military capabilities there. 

The orders and strikes came despite a ceasefire deal agreed a year ago that was meant to end more than a year of fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, and after months of Lebanese army efforts to clear Hezbollah sites in the south. 

Giving a preliminary toll, the Lebanese health ministry said that one person was wounded in the afternoon bombing after one person was killed in strikes earlier in the day. 

Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued three simultaneous evacuation orders on X at 3 p.m. local time (1300 GMT) on Thursday, with maps showing buildings in the villages of Aita al-Jabal, Al-Tayyiba and Tayr Debba. Two more orders came later for other towns in the south.

The locations ranged from just 4 km (2.5 miles) away from the Israeli border to nearly 24 km north of the frontier.

The posts ordered residents to keep a 500-metre (1,650-foot) distance from the identified locations. Lebanon's civil defence helped people to evacuate, the Lebanese state news agency said.

The airstrikes began about an hour after the orders, sending thick plumes of smoke into the sky. 

Fears have been mounting in Lebanon that Israel could resume a full-blown aerial bombing campaign, particularly after Israeli leaders warned they would take action against Hezbollah if Lebanon did not step up efforts to disarm the group.

"We are in a very dangerous situation; if things keep heading this way... then all hope is lost. No one knows where the consequences of these matters will lead," said Farid Nahnouh, mayor of Tayr Debba.

IRONWORKS SHOP DESTROYED

While Israel has carried out frequent strikes targeting what it says are Hezbollah military sites and group members present in south Lebanon over the last year, they have rarely come with evacuation orders.      

"Israel will continue to defend all of its borders, and we continue also to insist on the full enforcement of the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel," Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian told reporters on Thursday. 

Bedrosian said Israel will not allow Hezbollah to rearm or to recover the military strength that was shattered by Israel's ground and air war in 2023-24. 

Hezbollah said on Thursday it was committed to the ceasefire, but that it retained a "legitimate right" to resist Israel. It has refused to disarm in full, but has not obstructed the army's efforts in the south and has not fired on Israel since the truce deal came into force last year.

The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon said the Israeli airstrikes constitute clear violations of Security Council resolution 1701, adopted in 2006 with the aim of keeping peace along the Lebanon-Israel border.

"We call on Israel to immediately cease these attacks and all violations of resolution 1701. Likewise, we urge Lebanese actors to refrain from any response that could inflame the situation further," UNIFIL added in a statement.

The Lebanese army in a statement condemned the strikes, calling them "a continuation of the enemy’s destructive approach aimed at undermining Lebanon's stability and widening destruction in the south."

The evacuation warnings coincided with a meeting of Lebanon's cabinet to hear an update from army commander Rodolphe Haykal on progress in confiscating Hezbollah arms depots in south Lebanon.

The army has said it could clear all of southern Lebanon of arms outside of state control by the end of the year. Two senior Lebanese security officials told Reuters hours before the heavy strikes on Thursday that their troops were making swifter progress every month on disarmament.

The strikes on Thursday destroyed an ironworks business in the southern Lebanon town of Abbasiyeh.

"This shop was supporting five to six households, overall five to six homes," said Ahmad al-Kayyal, who owned the business. "Brother, what does a blacksmith do? For heaven's sake: chairs, tables, doors, windows, railings. What does he make? That's the blacksmith’s job."

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily in Beirut; Ahmad Elimam and Elwely Elwelly in Dubai, Tamar Uriel-Beeri and Alexander Cornwell in Jerusalem; writing by Elwely Elwelly and Maya Gebeily; editing by Alex Richardson, Mark Heinrich and Sharon Singleton)