After days of border clashes with Hezbollah, Israeli military plans to evacuate Kiryat Shmona.
The Israeli military announced plans to evacuate the northern city of Kiryat Shmona on Friday, after days of clashes with Hezbollah fighters along the border with Lebanon.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah and allied Palestinian factions have traded cross-border fire with Israel for days, after Hamas gunmen attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7.
On Friday morning, the Israeli defense ministry announced the evacuation of the town of Kiryat Shmona, which normally has a population of 25,000. The Israeli army said later that it was “implementing a plan to evacuate residents to government-funded shelters”.
The operation had not begun by late Friday afternoon, but much of the population of Kiryat Shmona had already left, as evidenced by the deserted streets and closed shops, AFP journalists observed.
The international community fears that the conflict between pro-Iranian Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, and the Israeli army could spiral out of control. Since 7 October, the Israeli army has been on alert on its northern border to repel a possible Hezbollah offensive.
The military said it was continuing to strike Hezbollah targets just across the border in Lebanon.
“Twenty launches were identified from Lebanon toward Israeli territory” on Friday, the military said.
Anti-tank missiles and gunfire also targeted Israeli army positions. Troops responded with air strikes, artillery bombardments, and sniper fire, the military said.
Hezbollah said it had struck several Israeli positions in the border area, some with guided missiles.
Since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out, at least 22 people have been killed in south Lebanon.
Most of them have been combatants, but at least four civilians, including a Reuters journalist, have been killed. At least three people have been killed in Israel.
The Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement, Lebanon’s only armed faction that did not disarm after the 1975-1990 civil war, last fought a major conflict with Israel in 2006.
That war left more than 1,200 dead in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 in Israel, mostly soldiers, in a conflict that left deep scars and the border bristling with guns.
Katrine Dige Houmøller, with AFP
