The Israeli army and the Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday that they intend to evacuate 14 more towns near the Lebanese border, amid repeated missile attacks by Hezbollah and its allied Palestinian factions in the last two weeks.
The ministry’s National Emergency Management Authority said residents would be moved to state-funded guest houses.
Last week, the authority began evacuating 28 towns located within two kilometers of the border, as well as the city of Kiryat Shmona.
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According to the Israeli army and the Ministry of Defense, the 14 towns added to the list are: Snir, Dan, Beit Hillel, Sha’ar Yishuv, Hagorshim, Liman, Matzova, Goren, Gornot HaGalil, Even Menachem, Sasa, Tziphon and Ramot Naftali.
Many residents in the northern border towns have already been evacuated southward amid escalating attacks from Lebanon.
An Israeli army spokesman said on Sunday that Hezbollah’s escalating attacks risked “dragging Lebanon into war.”
Residents of Kiryat Shmona are evacuated from the city, October 20, 2023. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
Lieutenant Colonel (reserve) Yonatan Conricus warned that “Hezbollah… is dragging Lebanon into a war from which it will gain nothing, but will lose a lot,” adding, “They are escalating the situation.”
“Hezbollah is playing a very dangerous game,” Conricus said. “They are escalating the situation, and we are seeing more and more attacks every day.”
He asked, “Is the Lebanese state really prepared to endanger what remains of Lebanese prosperity and Lebanese sovereignty for the sake of terrorists in Gaza?” This is a question that the Lebanese authorities must ask themselves and answer.”
The past two weeks have witnessed repeated clashes between the Israeli army, Hezbollah, and its allied Palestinian factions in southern Lebanon, amid fears of the possibility of opening a new front as Israel continues its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
On Sunday morning, the Israeli military said it struck a cell in southern Lebanon that was planning to carry out an anti-tank guided missile attack against the border town of Avivim.
The Israeli army published a video of the strike.
A terrorist squad was identified a short time ago while trying to launch anti-tank missiles towards Israeli territory in the Avivim region on the Lebanese border, the IDF attacked the squad before the launch was carried out pic.twitter.com/5l3hBoZ684
— Israel Defense Forces (@idfonline) October 22, 2023
In a separate incident, an Israeli army tank bombed a cell that fired an anti-tank guided missile from Lebanon into the Mount Dov area. The army said that there were no casualties among the Israeli army forces, and the missile did not cause any damage.
In the early hours of Sunday, the Israeli army announced the bombing of a Hezbollah position from which an anti-aircraft missile was fired at a drone. The Israeli army said that air defenses intercepted the missile, and that the military drone was not damaged.
On Saturday, an Israeli soldier was seriously injured and two others suffered minor injuries in a Hezbollah missile attack from Lebanon that occurred near the northern town of Bar’im. In a separate Hezbollah attack, two foreign workers from Thailand were injured by shrapnel in the Margaliot area, another town in northern Israel.
Israel responded with a drone strike against an anti-tank guided missile squad in southern Lebanon that fired the missile toward Margaliot. The Israeli army said that it also carried out drone strikes against armed cells in southern Lebanon that were preparing to carry out attacks with anti-tank missiles.
The army also said that fighter jets bombed a series of Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon in response to the rocket attacks for which Hezbollah claimed responsibility earlier on Saturday.
In a drone attack that occurred earlier on Saturday, the Israeli army announced that it had targeted a cell that fired rockets from Lebanon into the Mount Dov area on the border.
Smoke rising from inside an Israeli army position that was hit by missiles fired by Hezbollah, as seen from the village of Tayr Harfa, a Lebanese village bordering Israel, southern Lebanon, October 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Hezbollah has fired dozens of anti-tank guided missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at Israeli military positions and towns since the Hamas attack on October 7, while also sending militants – some linked to Palestinian factions – to infiltrate northern Israel. Several drones were also intercepted over northern Israel.
The exchange of attacks between the two parties has remained limited so far, amid threats from Israel that Lebanon may suffer if Hezbollah escalates its attacks.
At least six Israeli soldiers, 19 Hezbollah fighters and six Palestinian militants were killed in exchanges of fire. An Israeli civilian was also killed in a Hezbollah attack, and there were reports that a number of Lebanese civilians and a journalist were killed in the Israeli bombing.
The attacks from Lebanon come as Israel wages a war in Gaza against Hamas following the movement’s deadly attack on the country on October 7, which killed about 1,400 people, most of them civilians, and kidnapped more than 200 people and transported them to the Strip.
Agencies contributed to this report.
2023-10-22 11:14:43
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