(NEW YORK) — As Israel continued striking Beirut on Thursday, Israel’s military is preparing to expand its activity in Lebanon, Israel Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
The IDF issued a new evacuation order on Thursday, expanding the area in the south of Lebanon from which residents have been told to leave. The area now extends past the Litani River, all the way to the Zahrani River.
“I warned the Lebanese president that if the Lebanese government does not know how to control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening the northern communities and firing at Israel — we will take the territory and do it ourselves,” Katz said in remarks at a military operations center in Tel Aviv.
“The prime minister and I instructed the [Israel Defense Forces] to prepare to expand IDF activity in Lebanon and restore peace and security to the northern communities,” Katz added.
The expanded evacuation order now includes the city of Nabatieh, with a population of at least 35,000 people.
Overnight, Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s Corniche, a seafront area where many had evacuated to, following orders by the IDF to leave southern Beirut neighborhoods, a Hezbollah stronghold that the IDF has been striking and bombing in the past 12 days. At least eight people have died and dozens more were injured in the strikes, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
“The IDF continues to conduct extensive waves of strikes from the air and sea in the Beirut area against the Hezbollah terrorist organization … Among the targets struck were terrorist infrastructure, weapons storage facilities, central headquarters, and the IRGC Air Force headquarters in Beirut,” the IDF said in a statement Thursday.
Around 800,000 have now been driven from their homes in southern Lebanon and Beirut, according to Lebanese officials.
The Israeli military had issued an urgent evacuation notice for parts of southern Lebanon, including Beirut, on Wednesday, days after first ordering the evacuation of residents from southern Lebanon.
The two have continued to trade fire since Israel last week began carrying out intensified attacks targeting Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy force in Lebanon, following its strikes on Iran.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah announced a new operation against its neighbor, launching dozens of rockets.
Israel has responded with an intense bombardment of the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh.
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday it began a “large-scale wave of strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure” after issuing an “urgent and dangerous” evacuation alert for the area.
In an update late Wednesday, the IDF said it had struck 10 Hezbollah facilities in Dahieh in 30 minutes, including an intelligence headquarters and command centers.
Since March 2, when Israel began issuing evacuation warnings amid its airstrikes, over 630 people have been killed and nearly 1,600 injured in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
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