Benjamin Netanyahu warned Lebanese civilians “to get out of harm’s way” on Monday after Israel embarked on a full-scale air offensive against Hezbollah.
As his forces launched a devastating wave of attacks across Lebanon, the Israeli prime minister urged residents living in Hezbollah strongholds to flee their homes rather than allow the Iran-backed movement to use them as “human shields”.
“Israel’s war is not with you,” he said in a televised message. “It is with Hezbollah.”
“It has placed rockets in your living rooms and in your garage. To defend our people against Hezbollah strikes, we must take out these weapons. Please, get out of harm’s way now.”
Netanyahu issued the warning as the Israel Defense Forces said it had struck some 1,300 targets in the villages, towns and countryside of southern Lebanon, the capital Beirut and the Bekaa Valley to its east. The dramatic escalation heightened fears that Israel and Hezbollah had moved to the brink of all-out war.
At least 356 people were killed, 24 children and 39 women among them, according to Lebanese government officials who did not disclose how many Hezbollah fighters were among the dead.
Lebanese civilians fled the southern onslaught in their thousands, piling into cars and onto the back of lorries that clogged the main road north to the capital Beirut.
The IDF also struck Beirut as it targeted a top Hezbollah commander, thought to be second in command after a string of other attacks in recent days. It was not clear if Ali Karaki survived.
Hezbollah said on Monday that he had survived.
Meanwhile, the US said it was deploying more troops to the Middle East amid fears the conflict could spill over to a full-scale regional war.
Joe Biden was briefed on the situation in the White House, saying he was “working to de-escalate”.
Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president, warned on Monday of “irreversible” consequences of escalation as he arrived at the UN in New York. Egypt, Turkey and Iraq also called for urgent de-escalation at the General Assembly.
Israel’s strikes were by far the most extensive of its 11-month confrontation with Hezbollah, which began firing rockets into northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas following the outbreak of the Gaza war last October.
Herzi Halevi, Israel’s army chief, said the strikes were the start of a “proactive offensive operation” to target Hezbollah weapon sites in Lebanon.
“We are striking targets and preparing for the next phases, which I will elaborate on shortly,” he said. It is not clear if Israel is readying for a ground offensive, a costly and high-risk move.
Hezbollah fired 210 rockets at northern Israel and the central part of the West Bank in return on Monday.
Source Agencies
