The Israeli army intensified its actions in Lebanon on Thursday, where it carried out numerous bombings spanning much of the country’s south. The attacks, particularly intense east of the Lebanese city of Tyre, left one dead and three injured, as well as causing panic to close schools.
The spokesman for the Israeli troops in Arabic, Avichay Adraee, announced this Thursday afternoon a new series of attacks against what he believes to be military points of Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia party that Israel accuses of rebuilding its infrastructure in the border area, which would imply a violation of the truce.
Specifically, the spokesperson released 7 different statements in which he anticipated imminent attacks against several Lebanese municipalities. In some cases, the notes include maps with buildings marked in red, requiring civilians to move at least 500 meters away from them “for their own safety”.
“The army will attack the military infrastructure of the terrorist organization Hezbollah to thwart its banned attempts to rebuild its activities in the region,” state many of these messages, which never include evidence justifying the military purpose of the attacks. “Staying in the area puts you in danger,” the notes conclude.
One of these messages sparked general alarm across the region by warning, without providing further details, that new bombings would be announced against southern Lebanon, a vast territory home to hundreds of thousands of people. Several municipalities mentioned in these statements, such as Abasiyeh, Tair Deba or Aita el Shab, recorded immediate traffic jams on the roads, with thousands of residents trying to leave the area in vehicles unable to move forward.
The lives of many Lebanese had been interrupted again since the morning, when a series of Israeli attacks between the municipalities of Toura and Maarake – on the outskirts of Tyre, the largest city in southern Lebanon – led to the closure of schools, with multiple families coming to pick up their children to take them home.
Residents of the Lebanese region closest to Israel live their daily lives with an eye on the tensions occurring along the border with Israel. That attention has increased since September 23, 2024, when the Israeli army killed more than 500 people in a single day.
That massacre was the start of a large-scale offensive that lasted until late November last year, when a ceasefire was reached between Hezbollah and Israel that did not mean an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
