Israeli Military Holds Massive Air Strike In South Lebanon

UNIFIL/Pasqual GoRRiz/BP peacekeeping forces carry out foot patrols along the Blue Lines in southern Lebanon.

JAKARTA - The Israeli military launched a massive airstrike in southern Lebanon on Thursday after issuing an order to vacate three locations. The attack was carried out by Israel under the pretext that Lebanese armed group, Hezbollah, was trying to rebuild its military capabilities there.

The order and attack came despite a ceasefire agreed a year ago, which was meant to end the more than a year-long battle between Iran-backed Israel and Hezbollah, and after months of clearing of Hezbollah's locations in the south.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health has not provided direct information on the number of victims of the airstrikes that afternoon.

Israel's previous airstrikes on Thursday killed one person, according to the Ministry of Health.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued an evacuation order at X at 15.00 local time on Thursday, November 6, with a map showing three buildings in the villages of Aita al-Jabal, Al-Tayyiba, and Tayr Debba.

The order ordered residents to keep a distance of 500 meters (1,650 feet) from these locations. Lebanese civil defense helps residents evacuate the area, the Lebanese government news agency reported.

The airstrike began about an hour later, causing thick plumes of smoke into the sky.

Although Israel has frequently carried out attacks targeting what it calls Hezbollah military locations and members of groups in southern Lebanon over the past year, the attacks have rarely been accompanied by evacuation orders.

"Israel will continue to defend its entire border, and we also continue to urge the full enforcement of the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel," Israeli government spokesman Shosh Bedrosian told reporters on Thursday.

Bedrosian said Israel would not allow Hezbollah to reactivate or restore military forces destroyed by Israel's land and air warfare by 2023-2024.

Hezbollah said it was committed to a ceasefire, but still had a "legitimate right" against Israel.

Hezbollah has not opened fire on Israel since the ceasefire agreement came into force last year.

The warning fled the target site of the attack to coincide with a meeting of the Lebanese cabinet to hear the latest information from army commander Rodolphe Haykal about progress in the confiscation of Hezbollah's weapons depot in southern Lebanon.