Israel’s offensive against targets of Hezbollah and its allies continued into Tuesday afternoon and evening, while Israeli ground forces entered new sites in southern Lebanon to create a “buffer” zone.
On Tuesday afternoon, Arabic spokesperson to the Israeli army Avichay Adraee issued an evacuation call to 112 towns in southern Lebanon, kicking off a new wave of Israeli strikes in the country.
Israel and Hezbollah Attack
Following the evacuation call, Israel carried out a new wave of attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs to target “several Hezbollah terrorists,” and several buildings sustained extensive damage.
Adraee stated in a post on X that “the IDF just attacked several leadership figures of Hezbollah in the Beirut area.”
Hezbollah also targeted military facilities in northern Israel at Maayan Baruch during Israel’s strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
During the Israeli offensive, Hezbollah also shot down an Israeli drone over Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, and it struck an Israeli Merkava tank in Kfar Kila along the Lebanese-Israeli border.
Israel also carried out a wave of attacks in Sidon on non-state military targets. The Israeli army announced that it would target Hezbollah assets in the city that it could use to rebuild its operations and capabilities, and issued an evacuation call to people nearby.
Israeli attacks in Sidon also targeted the headquarters of the Jamaa Islamiya, an ally of Hamas and Hezbollah, on Tuesday evening. A seven-story building was nearly destroyed as part of the large blast in a dense neighborhood.
Lebanese authorities stated that more than 58,000 people across Lebanon have been displaced since Sunday.
“Buffer” Zone
Israeli army spokesperson Effie Defrin said that the “Northern Command has moved forward, taken control of the dominating terrain, and is creating a buffer, as we promised, between our residents and any threat.”
UNIFIL announced that it would evacuate non-essential personnel from southern Lebanon, and the Lebanese army withdrew personnel from at least 7 posts along the Lebanese-Israeli border. AFP reported from a Lebanese army source that Israeli forces are advancing on the ground in Lebanon “from Kfar Kila and the Khiam plains.”
Speaking on Israel’s air campaigns, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to strike Hezbollah “with greater force” and stated that Israeli pilots are “over the skies of Lebanon, and Hezbollah made a very big mistake when it attacked us.”
Comments