Israel Orders Evacuation of Tyre as Airstrikes Kill 10 in Lebanon

The ceasefire reached in Lebanon last month yielded little relief for civilians as displacement continued from areas widening across the country due to an unrelenting Israeli campaign of airstrikes and evacuation orders.

The US-brokered ceasefire, announced on April 16 after about six weeks of fighting, failed to stop the violence, and Israel published a map delineating a buffer zone of about 600 square kilometers that it had occupied with ground forces.

Chronique de Palestine

A Reuters review of Israeli data said that since then the Israeli army has carried out hundreds of airstrikes far beyond the area it occupies and issued evacuation orders affecting more than 100 additional Lebanese towns and villages.

Reuters also reported that, in addition to the area the Israeli army occupied, these evacuation orders cover roughly 2,000 square kilometers of Lebanon’s territory, about one-fifth of the country, effectively making large tracts off-limits to residents.

In al-Bazourieh, muhtar Iyad Watfa said the town, home to about 13,000 people, had suffered several airstrikes and evacuation orders since the ceasefire took effect and that last week alone, 20 buildings in the town were destroyed in a single night.

Lebanese state media said Israeli airstrikes killed 10 people on Friday, including six rescuers and a girl, in ongoing fighting, and the Lebanese Ministry of Health said six people were martyred including two rescuers from the Al-Risalah Scouts Association and a Syrian girl.

In the Nabi Srig al-Jabal area on the outskirts of Brital, the state-run National News Agency said five Israeli airstrikes occurred just before midnight, and Civil Defense rescue teams and municipal police worked to evacuate residents from the neighborhood using loudspeakers to urge them to leave.

Libnanews

The Israeli army issued two evacuation warnings through its Arabic-language spokesman, one for the Lebanese village of Burj Rahal, saying the forces are operating against Hezbollah.

In a separate account of the escalation, AFP reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday his intention to escalate his attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon and described Israeli forces’ control of Qalaʿat al‑Shaqīf as a “decisive turning point,” prompting France to request an emergency meeting of the Security Council set for Monday.

AFP also quoted displaced resident Zina Faqih from Nabatieh saying, “Of course we are scared… now it is impossible to return to our home, because the city is heavily damaged and the situation is very difficult,” adding that the Israeli forces’ arrival at the fortress is “tragic.”

Israel broadened its warnings to the Lebanese maritime front by ordering all ships to leave the southern Lebanese coastline from the border to Tyre, with a message issued by its Arabic-speaking spokesman, Col. Avshai Adrai.

“ordering all ships to leave the southern Lebanese coastline from the border to Tyre”

Libnanews

The warning told ships to anchor or sail within 20 nautical miles and to proceed immediately north of the Tyre area, and it said Israel would act in this maritime sector against Hezbollah.

The same report described the Tuesday maritime warning as a new phase of the war in southern Lebanon, saying it continued a pattern of expanding warnings from border villages to areas south of the Litani River before reaching parts of Tyre and many land corridors.

In Beirut, the Chronique de Palestine account said Israel’s sheltering system, already stretched to the limit, struggled as Israel was determined to implement a 'collective punishment' and to turn the Lebanese government against Hezbollah.

That article also described a raid on the neighboring town of Nabi Chit using helicopters and ground troops, and it said fighter jets and attack helicopters carried out 40 strikes on the area, with at least 41 people killed including at least three Lebanese army soldiers and a member of the Directorate General Security.