Israel Strikes Lebanon After Urging Residents to Evacuate

Lebanese state media reported Israeli attacks in the country’s southern region on Saturday. The National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli air strikes on several areas, including the villages of Rihan and Sujud, located not far from Nabatieh. The Israeli military had previously warned of attacks in southern Lebanon, despite a ceasefire in their war with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and urged residents in 20 towns and villages, many near the city of Nabatieh, to evacuate. “For your safety, you must immediately evacuate your homes and move north of the Zahrani River,” Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in an Arabic-language post on X. “Anyone who is near Hezbollah installations or military assets is endangering their lives,” he added, accusing the Iran-backed militia of violating the ceasefire. Israel and Hezbollah have been at war since early March, when the group dragged Lebanon into the Middle Eastern conflict with rocket attacks on Israel. Hezbollah said the rocket fire was in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli strike. Israel has launched a massive air campaign and ground invasion, killing more than 3,700 people in Lebanon, according to authorities. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah honoured the April ceasefire. A subsequent conditional ceasefire agreement announced this month after a fourth round of direct Lebanon-Israel talks in Washington also failed to halt the fighting. Hezbollah rejected the direct talks and the conditional agreement, which required the group to halt its attacks but did not mention Israel doing the same or withdrawing its forces from Lebanon.