JERUSALEM: Israel on Tuesday said it was not seeking to take territory in Lebanon, as its military issued a wave of new evacuation warnings for towns and villages in the battle-scarred south.
“Israel has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon. Our presence... serves one purpose: protecting our citizens,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told a news conference.
“No country would be willing to live in such a way with a gun pointed to its head,” he said as the military pressed its operations in Lebanon against Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Shortly after a ceasefire with Hezbollah came into effect on April 17, Israel declared a so-called “Yellow Line” -- a strip of Lebanese territory around 10 kilometers (six miles) deep along the border within which Israeli troops are operating.
“In a reality where Hezbollah and other terror organizations -- including Palestinian terror groups -- are dismantled, Israel will have no need to maintain its presence in these areas,” he added.
Despite the ceasefire, Israel and Hezbollah have both engaged in fighting, trading blame over violations of the fragile truce.
Tuesday’s evacuation warning was aimed at residents in more than a dozen villages and towns, urging them to immediately head northwards.
“Out of concern for your safety, you are required to evacuate your homes immediately and move... towards the Sidon District,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on X.
Shortly afterwards, Lebanon’s state media reported that Israel carried out airstrikes across the south, hitting targets including the named areas.
It also said at least one Israeli demolition operation was taking place in the south.
All the areas listed for evacuation appear to be outside or on the border of the “Yellow Line.”
In two incidents earlier on Tuesday, the military said it intercepted “a suspicious aerial target” in an area where troops were operating.
It also said a soldier had been severely injured and another lightly hurt a day earlier “as a result of an explosive drone impact,” branding it a new ceasefire violation by Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Hezbollah’s rockets and drones remained a key threat requiring ongoing military action.
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 by firing rockets towards Israel to avenge the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
HEZBOLLAH TUNNEL NETWORK
The Israeli military on Tuesday said it found and destroyed a large Hezbollah tunnel network used by elite fighters, as it ordered a wave of new evacuations from Lebanon’s battle-scarred south.
Israel has been fighting Hezbollah since early March, sending troops into south Lebanon to battle the Iran-backed militant group, with the violence ongoing despite a shaky April 17 ceasefire.
In Qantara, troops found “two Hezbollah terror tunnels, constructed over approximately a decade” that stretched two kilometers (1.2 miles), using “over 450 tons of explosives” to demolish them, an army statement said.
Lebanese state media said an Israeli detonation had left a “large crater” in Qantara, after earlier reporting a “major demolition operation” in the town.
AFP images showed two large columns of smoke rising from the site, which was visible from miles away.
An Israeli military source described it as a “massive underground military installation” comprising an 800-meter tunnel and a second which ran for 1.2 kilometers, that was used as “an assembly area” for Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces.
Running under civilian infrastructure, including a school and a mosque, the tunnels were equipped with sleeping quarters, showers, toilets, kitchenettes and five assembly halls, he said, indicating it was “designed, sponsored and paid for by Iran.”
“Today we blew up a huge Hezbollah terror tunnel,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, vowing to continue targeting the militants’ infrastructure.
