Israeli army orders Beirut's southern suburb residents to evacuate

JERUSALEM

The Israeli military on Tuesday warned residents in the southern suburbs of Beirut to evacuate their homes, citing the proximity to Hezbollah facilities that it plans to target with airstrikes soon.

“Urgent warning to the residents of the southern suburbs in Haret Hreik ... specifically to those in the buildings marked on the maps and those nearby,” Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army's spokesperson for Arabic media, posted on X.

He shared two maps that he claimed showed buildings near Hezbollah facilities and interests, warning residents to evacuate because the Israeli army would soon operate against them “in the near future.”

“You must evacuate these buildings and those nearby immediately and keep a distance of at least 500 meters,” Adraee added.

The Israeli military announced on Tuesday that since the launch of “Northern Arrows” (the ground incursion into southern Lebanon), more than 3,000 rockets had been fired from Lebanon toward Israel.

In a separate statement, the Israeli military claimed its air force carried out strikes over the past 24 hours in southern Lebanon, destroying 50 targets of infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah's “Aziz Unit," 30 targets of the “Nasser Unit," and five targets of the “Bader Unit.”

“Additionally, around 10 targets of the Radwan Forces and Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters, as well as approximately 30 targets of the medium-range rocket unit in southern Lebanon, were targeted,” the statement added.

The strikes resulted in the killing of at least 50 Hezbollah members, the statement claimed.

While cross-border warfare between Hezbollah and Israel, triggered by the Gaza war, continued for a year, Israel escalated its offensive late last month. The intense bombardment of sites across Lebanon has since killed hundreds, displaced tens of thousands and assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Last week, the military also began a ground invasion.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio