Israel extends evacuation warnings in southern Lebanon

The Israeli military has warned people to evacuate communities in southern Lebanon that are outside a UN-declared buffer zone, signalling that it may widen a ground operation launched earlier this week against the Hezbollah militant group.

That announcement comes as a series of massive blasts were heard in the capital Beirut in the early hours of Friday morning.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported more than 10 consecutive airstrikes in the capital but it was not immediately clear what was targeted or if there had been any casualties.

Israeli forces said they had struck around 200 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and observation posts with the IDF promising “severe damage” against Hezbollah will continue.

“Our forces in Lebanon are eliminating more and more commanders, more and more terrorists. Every such encounter ends with us having the upper hand. Our forces are ready and trained more than ever, loaded with experience from fighting in Gaza and their advantage in the battlefield is clear,” said Israel’s Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi.

At least nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where Israel announced the start of what it says is a limited ground incursion earlier this week.

The fighting comes as the region braces for Israel’s response to an Iranian attack on Tuesday night which saw around 200 ballistic missiles fired towards Israel.

The fighting has driven nearly 1.2 million people from their homes in Lebanon, the country’s crisis unit said.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization says 28 health workers in Lebanon had been killed in the past day.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described a dire situation in treating casualties, with three dozen health facilities closed in southern Lebanon and five hospitals either partly or fully evacuated in Beirut.

“Many health workers are not reporting to duty as they fled the areas where they work due to bombardments, and this is severely limiting the provision of mass trauma management and continuity of health services,” he said in Geneva.

The Lebanese health minister said Israeli strikes that hit nine hospitals and 45 health care centres violate international law and treaties.

“International laws are clear in protecting these people — I mean, paramedics,” Firas Abiad said. “Who gave Israel the right to be the judge and the executioner at the same time?”

The Lebanese Red Cross said an Israeli strike wounded four of its paramedics and killed a Lebanese army soldier as they were evacuating wounded people from the south.

It said the convoy near the village of Taybeh, which was accompanied by Lebanese troops, was targeted Thursday despite coordinating its movements with UN peacekeepers.

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There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Another Lebanese soldier was killed by Israeli fire at an army post in the southern town of Bint Jbeil, according to the Lebanese military, which said it returned fire.

Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah after nearly a year of rocket attacks that began October 8 and displaced some 60,000 Israelis from communities in the north.

Israel has carried out retaliatory strikes over the past year that have displaced tens of thousands on the Lebanese side.

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Nearly 2,000 people have been killed and more than 9,000 wounded in Lebanon since the fighting began nearly a year ago.