Israel Calls on Lebanese Residents of Beqaa Valley to Evacuate

Jerusalem, 23 September, 2024 (TPS) -- After launching more than 300 airstrikes across southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces called on residents of the Beqaa Valley in the northeast of the country to evacuate their homes on Monday afternoon.

“A call to the residents of the Lebanese villages in the Bekaa region: Residents who are near or inside buildings and houses in which missiles and weapons are stored – move away from them immediately,” tweeted Col. Avichay Adraee, the Israel Defense Force’s Arabic-language spokesman.

“This is a specific warning to the villages in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon. Residents who are near or inside homes where missiles and weapons are stored – move away immediately for your own safety. You are watching our operations in the southern Lebanon area where Hezbollah is preparing to fire its weapons at Israel and we will not allow that. Move away from these homes for your own safety. Hezbollah is lying to you and putting you in danger.”

Israeli airstrikes throughout the day pounded Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon.

Ahead of the strikes, IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari warned southern Lebanese civilians to evacuate.

“For more than 20 years, Hezbollah has placed weapons inside homes and armed them, turning southern Lebanon into a combat zone. We are monitoring this activity, locating the weapons and destroying them in precise strikes. We urge you to move away from them immediately, for your safety. Hezbollah is endangering you,” Hagari added.

Hagari disclosed that Hezbollah was preparing to launch a cruise missile hidden inside a civilian home, but the building was blown up in a pre-emptive airstrike.

Video footage released by the army showed a terrorist opening an exterior wall, revealing a missile. According to the IDF, the missile was a DR-3 cruise missile, which is Russian-made. The DR-3 carries a 300-kilo warhead and has a range of up to 200 km.

Meanwhile, residents of numerous northern Israeli communities were instructed to stay close to shelters in the face of Hezbollah rocket barrages.

Two Israelis were injured during the attacks. One man was hospitalized with mild shrapnel injuries and another was hurt while making his way to a protected area. Magen David Adom emergency responders treated three other people who had panic attacks. Rocket alert sirens were heard all across the north.

‘Every Third House’

Sarit Zahavi, president and founder of the Alma Research Center, told The Press Service of Israel in August that Hezbollah doctrine makes extensive use of civilian homes.

“Hezbollah stores their weapons everywhere, both between villages and within the villages themselves,” she said.

“By and large, every third house in the Shi’ite villages of south Lebanon is used in some way by Hezbollah for military purposes, be it weapons storage, the entrance of a tunnel, or a launchpad for shooting rockets at Israel,” she explained.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have soared in recent days.

On Tuesday, pagers belonging to Hezbollah operatives exploded across Lebanon and in Syria, injuring thousands. More Hezbollah figures were injured in a second wave of explosions on Wednesday. The Iran-backed terror group said 32 of its people were killed, a number that has not been independently verified. Israeli officials believe the death toll is higher than Hezbollah has indicated. The blasts are widely attributed to Israel, but Jerusalem has not commented.

An Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday killed 16 senior terrorists, eliminating most of the elite Radwan Force’s chain of command.

Northern residents were forced to evacuate their homes when Hezbollah began launching rockets and drones in October. The terror group has launched more than 6,700 rockets and drones, killing 26 civilians and 22 soldiers on the Israeli side.

Hezbollah leaders have said they will continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes, which Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah reiterated in a speech on Thursday night.

Israeli officials have been calling for Hezbollah to be disarmed and removed from southern Lebanon in compliance with UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War.