BEIRUT: Lebanon reported a new wave of Israeli airstrikes in the country’s south on Saturday, shortly after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for residents in 20 locations, including the city of Nabatieh.
According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA), Israeli warplanes targeted several areas covered by the warning, including the villages of Rihan and Sujud, situated near Nabatieh. The strikes came after the Israeli army urged residents to immediately leave their homes and move north of the Zahrani River, approximately 45 kilometres from the border with Israel.
Last month, the Israeli military designated all areas south of the Zahrani River as combat zones and has since carried out repeated attacks across the region. Late on Friday, the NNA also reported explosions and artillery shelling near the Ali Taher hills overlooking Nabatieh.
The latest strikes follow Israeli attacks on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Friday, after similar evacuation notices were issued.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said its fighters had engaged Israeli forces advancing toward the town of Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon. The group has continued attacks against Israeli troops operating inside Lebanese territory.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has persisted since early March, when Hezbollah launched rocket attacks into Israel, saying the strikes were in response to the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in joint US-Israeli attacks. Israel subsequently launched a large-scale air and ground campaign in Lebanon.
Lebanese authorities say more than 3,700 people have been killed since the conflict escalated, while efforts to secure a lasting ceasefire have repeatedly failed. Neither side has fully adhered to a ceasefire reached in April, and a conditional truce announced earlier this month following direct Lebanese-Israeli talks in Washington has also failed to halt hostilities.
Hezbollah has rejected both the negotiations and the proposed truce, arguing that the agreement requires the group to stop its attacks without guaranteeing an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory or a cessation of Israeli military operations.
The conflict has increasingly become linked to wider regional diplomacy involving Iran. Tehran has maintained that Lebanon must be included in any broader agreement aimed at ending the Middle East conflict.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in a statement on X on Saturday that Lebanon faces “a fateful test”.
“Either its people unite around a sovereign state that monopolises weapons, upholds the law and protects citizens irrespective of their affiliation or position, or it remains hostage to the logic of militias,” the statement said.
