“Do not return to your homes until further notice”: Israeli army warns residents of southern Lebanon

The Israeli army on Saturday, October 11, ordered residents of southern Lebanon to“not to return” to this area where it is fighting fighters from the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah.

Israeli forces continue to “target Hezbollah posts in or near your villages“, Avichay Adraee, the army's spokesman for the Arabic-speaking public, said on X.

“For your own protection, do not return to your homes until further notice. Do not head south; “Anyone who goes south risks putting their life in danger,” he added.

In another message, the army spokesman ordered health workers to avoid using ambulances in the area, saying they are used by Hezbollah fighters.

“We ask medical teams to avoid any contact with Hezbollah members and not to cooperate with them,”, he said, threatening to take necessary measures against any vehicle carrying armed individuals.”

11 months of cross-border clashes

Claiming to act in support of Hamas, Hezbollah opened a front against Israel from southern Lebanon on October 8, 2023, the day after the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on southern Israel that triggered the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

After more than eleven months of cross-border clashes that displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border between Israel and Lebanon, the Israeli army has intensified its airstrikes against Hezbollah.

And it launched a ground offensive at the end of September against the fighters of the pro-Iranian movement in southern Lebanon.

In the Gaza Strip, where the army has stepped up its ground and air operations in the north, surrounding Jabalia, where it claims that Hamas is rebuilding its forces.

On Saturday, Avichay Adraee called on residents of the area around Sheikh Radwan, south of the Jabalia refugee camp, to evacuate.

Hezbollah missile fire

The Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah said on Saturday that it had fired "missiles&quot on an Israeli military base near Haifa, the major city in northern Israel.

In a statement, the pro-Iranian group said it had bombed a base south of Haifa with “a salvo of missiles, targeting an explosive materials factory”. Hezbollah claimed responsibility the day before for an explosive drone attack on an air base in Haifa.