The Israeli military on Wednesday warned residents of the eastern Lebanon city of Baalbek to evacuate as it appears to be stepping up military operations against Hezbollah strongholds beyond southern Lebanon.
Baalbek, which had a population of about 80,000 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 well known as a city where Hezbollah holds sway.
But unlike other places where the group receives support, the city of Baalbek has largely escaped Israeli shelling. In a sign that Israel’s operations against Hezbollah may be expanding, Baalbek has become one of two urban areas targeted by Israel in recent days after largely escaping the brunt of the war. .
The warning comes amid renewed diplomatic efforts to reach a cease-fire agreement, said three officials briefed on the negotiations on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
Although no deal has been reached, Israel has given Hezbollah several weeks to withdraw its troops from the Israel-Lebanon border and has agreed to join Lebanese official forces, which have been withdrawn by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon for the past two years. I’m looking for an arrangement that will allow it. Two officials say it’s to fill a decades-old void.
Israel also wants guaranteed rights to invade Lebanon if Hezbollah does not withdraw quickly enough, the two officials said.
In a statement posted online on Wednesday, Israeli military Arabic spokesman Avichai Adlai said Baalbek and two neighboring towns, Ain Burdeh and Duris, are part of the danger zone marked in red. A map showing the three evacuation routes authorized by the Israeli military was published. Israeli army.
“The IDF will act strongly against Hezbollah’s interests in your cities and villages, but it will not harm you,” Adley said. “For your safety, please evacuate your home immediately and leave the city or village.”
Lebanese officials said the evacuation order came two days after Israeli airstrikes killed at least 60 people in the Bekaa region, which includes the city and its hinterland. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 58 people were injured in the attack.
Farmland and villages around the city of Baalbek have been bombed repeatedly in recent weeks, leaving many of the small towns almost in ruins. Baalbek’s deputy mayor, Ibrahim Bayan, said earlier this month that around two-thirds of the city’s own residents had left their homes out of fear.
Bayan said people in Baalbek received an evacuation order via text message late Wednesday morning, and a sense of alert spread throughout the city.
“People are panicking,” Bayan said. “They run around and bump around like chickens with their heads cut off. They have no idea what to do or where to go.”
Within minutes, the streets were filled with residents, who threw valuables into plastic bags, locked their homes and placed metal bars over shop doors. People crammed into cars, shouting at each other to decide the safest way out of town.
Some chose to remain in the city, not knowing where they were going or how they would get there.
Baalbek is one of Lebanon’s least developed regions, and some say many of its residents do not have the means to evacuate.
Mahmoud Zikra, a resident of Baalbek who remained in his home, said: “The gas stations are closed, but even if they were open, people wouldn’t have money to fill their car tanks.” “Vans and taxis don’t exist. Even if they were available, no one could afford to hire them.”
The Israeli military warning includes villages on the southern outskirts of Baalbek, which connect the city of Baalbek with the region’s main roads, cutting off the standard route for residents attempting to leave the valley.
Hezbollah’s new leader, Naim Qassem, gave his first televised address on Wednesday afternoon, a day after he was appointed to the position. He replaced Hassan Nasrallah, the group’s longtime leader, who Israel assassinated last month.
In a speech delivered as the group fired a barrage of rockets into northern Israel, Mr. Qassem lavished praise on his predecessor and said Hezbollah would “continue to implement the war strategy he developed.” .
Fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah continued elsewhere in Lebanon. The Israeli military said Wednesday that it had attacked more than 100 locations across Israel in the past 24 hours, including the rocket launch site used in Tuesday’s deadly attack on the Israeli town of Ma’arot Tarshiha. are. It also said it had killed a number of Hezbollah fighters in what it called “limited, localized and targeted attacks.”
Adley said one of the fighters killed by Israeli forces was Mustafa Ahmed Shehadi, a prominent commander of the group’s elite Radwan unit. Hezbollah did not comment on the allegations.
Adlai said Shehadi was killed in an attack on the large southern town of Nabatieh. The military also issued an evacuation order Wednesday for eight small towns in the Nabatié area and called on residents to move north of the Awari River.
An Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people in the southern coastal city of Sidon on Tuesday night, the country’s state news agency reported. It was announced that at least 36 people were injured in the attack. Until recently, attacks on Sidon, one of Lebanon’s largest cities, and its surrounding areas were rare.
Hezbollah said its forces had fought Israeli forces in recent days near the border town of Kfar Qira and the mountain town of Qiam. Kiam is well known in Lebanon as the site of a prisoner-of-war camp run by Israel’s allies during the 20-year occupation. in southern Lebanon.
After the Israeli withdrawal in 2000, the camp was turned into a museum by the Lebanese government, but it was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike during the 2006 Lebanon War.
Hezbollah’s claims could not be independently verified. State news agencies reported on Wednesday that Israeli soldiers near Kiam were “attempting to enter the town under heavy artillery fire” and that the Israeli Air Force had carried out multiple air strikes on the area.
Jacob Roubai, Hwaida Saad, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad and Patrick Kingsley contributed reporting.
