MARJAYON, Lebanon (AP) — More than 490 people, including more than 90 women and children, have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, Lebanese officials said. The Israeli military has warned residents of southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of expanding its aerial campaign against Hezbollah.
Thousands of Lebanese fled the south, and the main highway in the southern port city of Sidon was jammed with cars heading for Beirut in the biggest exodus since 2006.
Lebanon’s health ministry said 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, had been killed and 1,645 injured in the strikes — a dramatic one-day toll. A country still reeling from Deadly attack on communication devices Last week.
In a recorded message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Lebanese citizens to heed Israeli calls to evacuate, saying “take this warning seriously.”
“Please get out of harm’s way now,” Netanyahu said. “Once our operation is over, you can safely return to your homes.”
Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the military would do “whatever it takes” to push Hezbollah from Lebanon’s border with Israel.
Hagari said Monday’s spate of airstrikes inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah. But he would not give a timeframe for the ongoing operation, saying Israel was ready to launch a ground invasion of Lebanon if necessary.
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in the village of Kafar Rouman, as seen from the town of Marjayon in southern Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussain Malla)
“We are not looking for wars. We are looking to eliminate threats,” he said. “We will do whatever is necessary to achieve this mission.”
Hagari said Hezbollah has fired about 9,000 rockets and drones into Israel since last October, including 250 on Monday alone.
Israeli warplanes hit 1,300 Hezbollah targets on Monday, destroying cruise missiles, long- and short-range rockets and attack drones, a military spokesman said. He said many were hiding in residential areas and showed photographs of what he said were weapons hidden in private homes.
“Hezbollah has turned southern Lebanon into a war zone,” he told a press conference.
Israel estimates that Hezbollah has about 150,000 rockets and missiles, including guided missiles and long-range projectiles capable of hitting anywhere in Israel.
Earlier on Monday evening, the Israeli military said it had carried out a targeted attack in Beirut. It did not provide details. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that three missiles hit the Beir al-Abed neighborhood in south Beirut. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reported that six people were wounded.
Lebanese Health Minister Fraz Abiat said previous strikes had affected hospitals, medical centers and ambulances. The government ordered the closure of schools and universities in most parts of the country and began preparing shelters for displaced people.
Some of the strikes hit residential areas in the southern and eastern Bekaa Valley. One hit the wooded area north of Beirut from the border to Byblos, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) away.
Israel said it was expanding its airstrikes to include parts of the valley along Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria. Hezbollah has long had an established presence in the Valley, where the group was founded in 1982 with the help of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said Israel was preparing for its “next phase of operations” against Hezbollah and that its airstrikes targeting Hezbollah’s infrastructure built over the past 20 years were “effective.”
Halevi said the goal is to allow displaced Israelis to return to their homes in northern Israel.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it had fired dozens of rockets at Israel, including at military bases. It also targeted the facilities of the Haifa-headquartered Rafale Defense Company for a second day.
The first such evacuation warnings in nearly a year Escalating conflict And Sunday came after a fierce firefight. In response to the deadly attack, Hezbollah launched about 150 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel. A high commander And dozens of fighters.
Increasing strikes and counter-attacks have raised fears of all-out war, even as Israel battles Hamas in Gaza and tries to negotiate the release of several hostages. In the October 7 attack by Hamas. Hezbollah has vowed to continue its strikes in solidarity with fellow Iranian-backed militant group Hamas.
A spokesman for President Joe Biden stressed that the administration is concerned about what is happening between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and that a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Gaza is important to easing tensions in the region.
“It is in everyone’s interest to resolve it quickly and diplomatically,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters traveling with Biden to New York, where he is scheduled to deliver his final address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
Monday’s death toll exceeds that of Beirut A catastrophic port explosion in 2020Hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse exploded, killing at least 218 people and injuring more than 6,000.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health asked hospitals in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley to postpone non-emergency surgeries to treat people injured by “Israel’s expanding occupation of Lebanon.”
On Monday, text messages were sent to residents: “If you are in a building that holds weapons for Hezbollah, leave the village until further notice,” Lebanese media reported.
Lebanon’s information minister, Ziad Makari, said his office in Beirut had received a recorded message asking people to leave the building.
“It comes in the form of psychological warfare implemented by the enemy,” Macari said, and urged people not to “give more attention to this matter than it deserves.”
Communities on both sides of the border have been largely emptied due to almost daily gunfire.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of turning entire communities in the south into terrorist bases, with rocket launchers and other infrastructure. This would lead the Israeli military to mount an especially heavy bombing campaign, even if any ground forces were to enter.
An Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb on Friday killed a top Hezbollah military commander and a dozen fighters, as well as dozens of civilians, including women and children.
Last week, thousands of communication devices, mainly used by Hezbollah members, erupted in various parts of Lebanon39 people were killed and nearly 3,000 injured, many of them civilians. Lebanon blamed Israel, but Israel neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.
Hezbollah began firing into Israel a day after the October 7 attack in what it said was an attempt to target Israeli forces to aid Palestinian militants in Gaza. Israel has retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict has gradually escalated.
Hezbollah has said it will carry out attacks in Gaza until a ceasefire is reached. It seems increasingly elusive As the war approaches its anniversary.
Hamas-led militants entered southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. About 100 prisoners are still being held in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead. They were released during a week-long ceasefire in November.
Gaza’s health ministry says 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks. It says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel claims to have killed more than 17,000 militants.
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Litman reported from Jerusalem and Mrou from Beirut. Associated Press writers Abby Sewell in Beirut and Amar Madani in New York contributed to this report.
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