Israeli forces launched their most widespread series of airstrikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah in the nearly year-long conflict, simultaneously targeting southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and northern areas close to Syria.
Asked by reporters about a possible Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon, Foreign Minister Daniel Haghari said “we will do whatever is necessary” to allow displaced residents in northern Israel to return safely to their homes, a top war priority for the Israeli government.
The latest attack came amid one of the fiercest cross-border firefights in an escalating conflict running parallel to Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Haghari urged residents of southern Lebanon to stay away from Hezbollah strongholds.
Haghari said Hezbollah had been hiding weapons, including cruise missiles, in homes and buildings across southern Lebanon for years, and urged residents to leave these locations.
At the press conference, Hagari showed aerial footage showing Hezbollah operatives attempting to launch a cruise missile from a civilian home in Lebanon and the Israeli military attack just before the missile was fired.
“Hezbollah is putting you in danger. They are putting you and your families in danger,” Hagari said.
He said that after confirming the intention to fire on Israel, Israel launched attacks on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon.
Israeli warplanes carried out a series of heavy airstrikes on Monday morning against towns along Lebanon's southern border and further north, according to a Reuters witness.
A Reuters journalist in the southern port city of Tyre heard the sounds of fighter jets flying low over southern Lebanon and a series of airstrikes nearby.
Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV reported that Israeli forces had carried out airstrikes targeting the outskirts of a number of towns and villages in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley. Footage showed columns of smoke rising into the southern sky.
Hezbollah's Al-Manar News Agency reported that in addition to attacks in the Bekaa region of eastern Lebanon, military aircraft also carried out airstrikes in the Hermel area in northern Lebanon.
Hezbollah and Israel exchanged heavy artillery fire into Sunday, with the Lebanese militant group firing rockets deep into Israeli territory in the north after coming under heavy artillery fire.
“We have entered a new phase, a never-ending battle of reckoning,” Hezbollah Deputy Commander Naim Qassem told mourners at the funeral of the group's commander killed in Beirut last week.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the operation would continue until it was safe for those displaced on the Israeli side of the border to return, and in a parallel war in Gaza, Iran-backed Hezbollah has vowed to keep fighting until there is a ceasefire, setting the stage for a protracted conflict.
The conflict has escalated sharply over the past week since Hezbollah opened a second front against Israel, claiming to support Palestinians facing Israeli attacks in the southern Gaza Strip.
Thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded on Tuesday and Wednesday in attacks widely blamed on Israel, which has neither claimed nor denied responsibility.
