Israel launches new attacks in southern Lebanon after evacuation orders

Background: Fragile ceasefire since April

On Saturday, the Israeli army expanded its operations in southern Lebanon. According to the Lebanese armed forces, areas that Israel had previously ordered evacuated were bombed, including the villages of Rihan and Sujjod. Israeli military spokesperson Andraee had stated in Arabic via online services: "For your safety, you should move to the area north of the Sahrani River." The army simultaneously announced that it would "act with full force," as an Israeli military spokesperson had previously announced.

Evacuation orders and bombardments in the south

In Rihan in the southern Jezzine district, one person was killed according to the Lebanese news agency NNA. Lebanese media also reported Israeli attacks in the south of the country. NNA reported artillery attacks near the city of Nabatieh on Friday evening. An AFP reporter in Nabatieh described the city as having been "almost deserted"; artillery fire could be heard during the night and on Saturday.

The pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia meanwhile stated that its fighters had carried out drone attacks on Israeli military vehicles in southern Lebanon. The Israeli army reported several drone attacks by the Lebanese Hezbollah militia on northern Israel since the previous evening. In the morning, the army announced that it had intercepted a "hostile aircraft" that had entered northern Israel from Lebanon. On Friday, there had been four such incidents, in which some projectiles could not be intercepted but caused no major damage.

Hezbollah counterstrikes on northern Israel

Hezbollah justified its attacks with the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after whose elimination the militia had repeatedly fired rockets at Israel. Deputy Hezbollah faction chairman Ali Fayyad demanded on Saturday that any agreement to end the fighting must be exploited, and that Lebanon must first abandon "the policy of subordination to the Israelis and obedience to the Americans."

Domestic political debate in Lebanon

Lebanese President Aoun spoke on Saturday of a "test of resolve" for his country. Via the online service X, he called on Lebanese people to "rally around a sovereign state that holds the monopoly on arms." Aoun warned that otherwise Lebanon would remain a "hostage to the logic of the militias." Israel justifies its actions with the stated goal of dismantling Hezbollah, which has carried out attacks against Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon and against Israel itself.

The background to the conflict is that Lebanon was drawn into the Iran war in early March. According to Lebanese figures, more than 3,700 people have since been killed in Israeli operations in Lebanon. In recent months, Israel has struck numerous targets in Lebanon from the air and sent ground troops across the border.

Point of contention in Washington-Tehran negotiations

According to the report, the Israeli attacks in Lebanon are among the central points of contention in negotiations between Washington and Tehran over an end to the war in the Gulf region. A senior US official stated accordingly that the agreement currently under discussion includes Lebanon, although the US had previously wanted to treat this as a separate issue. Iran demands that a ceasefire agreement include Lebanon.