Israel Orders Evacuations in Southern Lebanon Ahead of Planned Strikes

Israel's military ordered evacuations in southern Lebanon Monday, ahead of planned strikes on a Hezbollah facility, deepening cracks in a ceasefire that has failed to stop near-daily exchanges of fire.

In a X post on Monday morning, Israeli military spokesperson Ella Waweya called on residents inside a building marked on an accompanying map in Deir al-Zahrani — and in adjacent structures — to "evacuate immediately" and move at least 300 meters away, saying the site was near a Hezbollah facility the army intended to target and warning that remaining in the area "puts you in danger."

At least seven people, including two women, were killed in Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon on Sunday, with six others wounded, Reuters reported, citing Lebanon's Health Ministry. Israel described those strikes as retaliation for Hezbollah drones fired at its forces.

In the Monday post, the Israeli military accused Hezbollah of a "blatant violation" of the ceasefire agreement, saying an explosive drone had been launched toward its forces and that this was causing the army "to act against it forcefully."

Lebanon was drawn into the wider regional war in March, when the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group formally joined the fighting, prompting Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion, extending a conflict that Lebanon said has killed at least 4,300 people and wounded over 12,000 since March 2.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Sunday called the strikes "a dangerous escalation" that targeted "purely civilian administrations and health centres." The president's office also called on the U.S. and the international community to help stop the attacks.

Violence has persisted in the region despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal reached in June, with sporadic Israeli strikes and Hezbollah drone attacks. Last month was the deadliest since the truce, as Israeli airstrikes killed at least 11 people and wounded 19 in southern Lebanon.

Monday's evacuation warning was only the third issued since the June ceasefire announcement, after the first online evacuation order on Aug. 5 and the second on Sunday.