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Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Monday morning, intensifying bombardment as the army warned civilians to evacuate and said it would continue to attack sites believed to be holding weapons for Hezbollah.
The series of attacks sent towers of smoke and fire into Lebanon’s southern hills and came after the United States warned Israel against taking any action that could lead to all-out war with Lebanese militant groups.
“Civilians in Lebanese villages living in or next to buildings and areas used by Hezbollah for military purposes, including weapons caches, are urged to immediately leave dangerous areas,” IDF spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari said.
“The IDF will conduct widespread and precise strikes against terror targets widely embedded throughout Lebanon,” Hagari said.
The Israeli raid was one of the heaviest bombardments on Hezbollah-controlled areas in southern Lebanon since the two countries began exchanging cross-border artillery fire after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. The escalation has raised fears that a full-scale ground war is imminent, and the United States issued a stern warning to Israel on Sunday not to escalate a second front in the north.
Asked about a possible ground invasion of southern Lebanon, Haghari said Israel would “do whatever is necessary” to stop Hezbollah from attacking northern Israel and allow local residents to return to their homes.
He said the IDF focused its attacks on Monday morning on a house hiding Hezbollah weapons. The army released a video showing the IDF attacking what appeared to be an ordinary house in southern Lebanon. The IDF said Hezbollah was hiding ready-to-fire cruise missiles inside the building.
Sirens sounded several times throughout the night in northern Israel, but Hezbollah attacks were quieter than the previous night, when the group fired about 150 rockets at Israel, most of which were intercepted but some landed outside the northern Israeli port city of Haifa.
Hezbollah said Sunday’s attack was its “initial” response to a mass telecommunications explosion that killed 37 people and injured more than 3,000 across Lebanon, which it blamed on Israel, which has neither admitted nor denied direct responsibility.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Sunday warned Israel that there are “better ways than war, escalation and opening a second front” to allow displaced Israelis to return to their homes in the north.
“We do not believe in military conflict and we have communicated that directly to our Israeli counterparts. We do not believe it is in their best interests to escalate this military conflict,” Kirby said in an interview with ABC News. this week.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has previously said that after 11 months of fighting Hamas in Gaza, Israel is now moving to a “new phase” of the war, and said he had discussed an attack on southern Lebanon with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
“I provided the Secretary of State with a situational assessment of the Hezbollah threat and briefed him on IDF operations to degrade Hezbollah’s ability to attack Israeli civilians,” Gallant said on Twitter. “We also discussed the broader regional situation and the threat posed by Iran and its proxies.”
