Israeli Strikes and Evacuation Threats Hit South Lebanon, Drone Strike Targets Majdal Zoun

Israeli strikes and evacuation threats have continued to reshape life in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa even after a ceasefire framework was announced on April 17, according to Al Mayadeen as cited by the Palestine Chronicle.

On Tuesday, the Palestine Chronicle says a drone strike targeted a motorcycle in Majdal Zoun, while air raids hit Baraachit, Tibnine, and Shaqra.

Al Jazeera

The same report describes artillery shelling, including reported use of phosphorus munitions, striking areas between Baraachit and Shaqra, and it says the wave of attacks extended to Eastern Zawtar, Toulin, Kherbet Selm, and Bayyout al-Sayyad.

The Palestine Chronicle also says Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that Israeli forces destroyed key infrastructure in Bint Jbeil, including a vocational school and higher education institute, amid continued bombardment.

In parallel, the Palestine Chronicle reports that Israeli military spokespersons issued evacuation threats earlier on Tuesday, ordering residents of multiple towns to leave immediately and head toward the Sidon district.

The towns listed in that evacuation warning included Ghandourieh, Burj Qalaouiyah, Qalaouiyah, Al-Souwaneh, Jmeijmeh, Safad al-Battikh, Baraachit, Shaqra, Aita al-Jabal, Tebnine, Sultaniyeh, Bir al-Sanasil, Kfar Dounine, Kherbet Selm, Selaa, and Deir Kifa.

The Palestine Chronicle adds that Lebanon’s Public Health Ministry said Israeli airstrikes on April 27 killed four people, including a woman, and injured 51 others, among them children and women.

L’Orient-Le Jour describes an escalation that includes strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, with Hezbollah saying it forced Israeli soldiers to retreat to Khiam.

The outlet’s live update says the Israeli army is bombing the southern suburbs of Beirut and that Hezbollah “has forced Israeli troops to retreat to Khiam.”

Al-Jazeera Net

It also says the Israeli army called for the evacuation of the area south of the Litani River after a night marked by strikes, notably on Mount Lebanon.

L’Orient-Le Jour reports that the Israeli escalation has left 72 dead, 437 wounded and 83,847 displaced, and it quotes Salam as saying, "I will spare no effort to end this devastating war," while also noting that Naïm Kassem delivered his first speech since the escalation began.

The same live update says Israeli forces carried out “a series of powerful morning strikes on the southern suburb of Beirut, damaging a hospital,” and it adds that the Israeli army struck a building in the southern Beirut suburb without warning.

It further reports that Hezbollah said, shortly before 1 a.m., that its fighters forced Israeli forces in Khiam to withdraw the rest of their vehicles and soldiers toward the Hamamès hill, after “heroic clashes.”

L’Orient-Le Jour includes an Israeli evacuation notice to residents of Beirut’s southern suburb, specifically the Haret Hreik neighborhood, asking them to leave a building marked in red on a map published on the spokesperson’s X account.

Today’s live coverage focuses on Israel ordering evacuations in southern Lebanon and on Lebanese political condemnation of ceasefire violations.

The outlet’s headline states that Israel orders 8 villages to evacuate in south Lebanon, and it says Joseph Aoun condemns Israeli cease-fire violations and breaches of “international conventions.”

In the live update, it reports that since Thursday morning Israel carried out several waves of strikes, notably on the Nabatieh region, where at least 10 people have been killed.

It also says funerals of three rescuers killed Tuesday in a double strike on Majdal Zoun were held in a tense atmosphere in Sour.

Today’s live report says an Israeli army drone was shot down by Hezbollah over Nabatieh, and it adds that the group claimed a drone attack on an Israeli position in Yarine.

The update also describes a call from the head of the municipality of Hanniyeh, Ahmed Mrad, who renewed his call on the Lebanese state, the Lebanese Red Cross, the Lebanese army and Civil Defense teams to “urgently work to determine the fate of a family still trapped under the rubble of their destroyed home.”

It says the Israeli army “has not yet allowed rescue teams to access” the site of the strike north of the “buffer zone” Israel seeks to establish inside Lebanese territory along the border.

The Times of Israël frames the fighting in southern Lebanon through Israeli military actions and Hezbollah responses, describing drone strikes that eliminated Hezbollah members and rocket fire from Lebanon toward the Galilee region.

It says a member of Hezbollah who fired an anti-tank missile at Israeli soldiers earlier in the day in southern Lebanon was eliminated by a drone strike, and it adds that the guided anti-tank missile attack caused neither damage nor casualties.

BBC

The outlet reports that Hezbollah said in a statement that it had targeted an Israeli army tank, and it says shortly after an Israeli Air Force drone struck and killed the terrorist, along with other members of the group who were accompanying him, near the village of Arnoun.

It also describes a rapid turn of events in which the Air Force killed a terrorist who had fired an anti-tank missile at an IDF force in southern Lebanon earlier that day, and it says a Hezbollah operative had fired such a missile at an IDF unit in the area.

The Times of Israël further reports that a volley of rockets was fired from Lebanon toward Etzba HaGalil – the Galilee region – recently, and it states that no sirens sounded in the cities because the rockets targeted uninhabited areas.

It also says the Israeli Air Force recently carried out a series of strikes against about sixty targets belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, targeting weapons depots, missile launch sites, command centers and other infrastructure.

The outlet adds that the army said it had also struck several “central” sites belonging to Hezbollah and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Sidon and Tyre.

Across the sources, the reported scale of casualties and displacement differs, and the reasons for continued hostilities are framed in contrasting ways.

L’Orient-Le Jour reports that the Israeli escalation has left 72 dead, 437 wounded and 83,847 displaced, while the Palestine Chronicle cites Lebanon’s Public Health Ministry for April 27 alone, saying Israeli airstrikes killed four people and injured 51 others, and it also says cumulative casualties since early March have reached 2,534 killed and 7,863 injured.

CBC

The Palestine Chronicle also says Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa continued unabated since the ceasefire announced on April 17, and it describes evacuation threats that ordered residents to head toward the Sidon district.

By contrast, the Times of Israël emphasizes Israeli military objectives and claims, saying the Air Force carried out strikes against about sixty targets belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and that it struck “central” sites belonging to Hezbollah and Hamas in Sidon and Tyre.

Today’s live report, meanwhile, focuses on the immediate impact of evacuation orders and strikes, stating that since Thursday morning at least 10 people have been killed in the Nabatieh region and describing how rescue teams were forced to leave after a drone dropped a bomb near ambulances.

L’Orient-Le Jour adds that the Israeli army called for evacuation of the area south of the Litani River and that Hezbollah said it forced Israeli forces to withdraw from Khiam after “heroic clashes.”

The Palestine Chronicle’s narrative also includes a claim that Israeli attacks were carried out with a “green light” from the United States, while L’Orient-Le Jour includes a line that Israel said it achieved “historic advances” with the United States for its protection thanks to the war waged with the United States against Iran.