Israel’s military warned residents of the eastern Lebanese town of Baalbek to evacuate on Wednesday as it deepened its campaign against Hezbollah strongholds further south of the country.
Baalbek, home to about 80,000 people before Israel stepped up attacks on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah this month, is an important urban center in the Bekaa Valley and famous for its towering Roman ruins. It is also known as a Hezbollah-dominated city.
But unlike other places that receive the group’s support, the town of Baalbek has been largely spared Israeli bombardment. Baalbek is one of two urban areas targeted by Israel in recent days after largely escaping the brunt of the war, signaling that Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah may be expanding.
The warnings came amid renewed diplomatic efforts to reach a deal, three officials briefed on the talks spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss key diplomacy.
No deal has been reached, but Israel has been pressing for an arrangement that would allow Hezbollah several weeks off the Israel-Lebanon border, allowing Lebanon’s official army, which has been sidelined by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon for the past two days. decades – to fill the void, according to two officials.
Both officials said Israel wants to assert its right to invade Lebanon if Hezbollah does not withdraw quickly enough.
A Report Posted online on Wednesday, Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesman, published a map showing three evacuation routes recognized by the Israeli army as part of the red-marked danger zone, Baalbek and two neighboring towns, Ain Bourday and Douris. .
“The IDF will act forcefully against Hezbollah’s interests within your towns and villages and do not want to harm you,” Mr. Atre said. “For your safety, you should immediately evacuate your homes and move out of the city and villages.”
The evacuation warning came two days after Israeli airstrikes killed at least 60 people in the Bekaa district, which includes the city and its rural hinterland, Lebanese officials said. At least 58 people were injured in the attack, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
Farmland and villages around Baalbek have been hit by airstrikes several times in recent weeks, leaving many small towns largely deserted. Ibrahim Bayan, deputy mayor in Baalbek, said earlier this month that two-thirds of the city’s residents had fled their homes out of fear.
There was a sense of alarm on the city’s streets as people in Ballbeck received evacuation warnings via text message on Wednesday morning, Mr. Bayan said.
“People are panicking,” Mr. Bayan said. “They are running around like chickens with their heads cut off. They don’t know what to do or where to go.
Within minutes, the roads were filled with residents who threw their valuables into plastic bags, locked their homes and pulled metal plates over their shop doors, he said. As people crammed into cars, they shouted at each other to determine the safest way to get out of town.
Others preferred to stay in the city, not knowing where to go or how to get there.
Baalbek is one of Lebanon’s most underdeveloped areas, and many residents have no way to escape, some said.
“Gas stations are closed, but even if they are open, people don’t have money to fill up their cars,” said Balbek resident Mahmoud Zigra, who stayed at his home. “There are no vans or taxis – no one can hire them even if they are available.”
Israel’s military alert included a village in the southern suburbs of Baalbek, which connects the town to the region’s main highway, cutting off a regular route for residents trying to leave the valley.
Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s new leader, made his first televised address on Wednesday afternoon, a day after being named to the position. He replaced Hassan Nasrallah, the group’s longtime leader, whom Israel assassinated last month.
In a speech delivered as the group fired a barrage of rockets into northern Israel, Mr. Qassem praised his predecessor and said Hezbollah would “continue to implement the war strategy he developed.”
Elsewhere in Lebanon, fighting continued between Israeli forces and Hezbollah. On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had struck more than 100 sites across the country in the previous 24 hours, including a rocket launch site used in Tuesday’s deadly attack on the Israeli town of Ma’alot-Tarshiha. It also said it had killed a large number of Hezbollah fighters in what it called “limited, localized, targeted raids.”
Mr. Adraee He said One of the militants killed by Israeli forces was Mustafa Ahmed Shehadi, whom he called a key commander of the group’s elite Radwan force. Hezbollah did not comment on the claim.
In a strike on Nabatieh, a large southern city, Mr. Shehadi was killed, Mr. Adraee said. The Army also released on Wednesday Evacuation warnings Eight small towns in the district surrounding Nabatieh urge their residents to move north of the Awali River.
On Tuesday night, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people in the coastal city of Sidon in southern Lebanon. Report By the country’s national news agency. At least 36 people were injured in the strike. Until recently, attacks on Sidon, one of Lebanon’s largest cities, and its surrounding areas were rare.
Hezbollah said its forces had clashed with Israeli troops in recent days near the border town of Kaffar Gila and the mountain town of Qiyam, well-known in Lebanon as the former site of a prison camp run by Israel’s allies during the two-decade occupation. of southern Lebanon.
The camp was turned into a museum by the Lebanese government after Israel withdrew in 2000, although it was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes during the 2006 war in Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s claims have not been independently verified. National News Agency reported Israeli soldiers near Qiyam on Wednesday were “trying to infiltrate the town under heavy fire” and Israel’s air force carried out several raids in the area.
Jacob Rs, Hwaita Saath, Rawan Sheikh Ahmed And Patrick Kingsley Contributed report.
