Israeli media report military expands ground operations in Lebanon

Israel’s military has reportedly pushed deeper into southern Lebanon, with Israeli media saying troops have begun ground operations beyond the so-called “Yellow Line” — an area extending about 10km inside Lebanese territory.

Until now, Israeli forces had been operating within the self-declared “Yellow Line”, where they have carried out widespread demolitions even though a ceasefire has been in place since 17 April.

“The IDF has begun ground operations north of the Yellow Line in southern Lebanon,” Israel’s Kan public broadcaster posted on X.

Israel’s left-leaning Haaretz newspaper and news site Ynet also said troops had moved north of the Yellow Line in an effort to curb the threat from Hezbollah’s explosive drones.

Despite the ceasefire, Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group have continued trading fire almost every day.

Several strikes hit the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh after what an AFP correspondent described as an unprecedented Israeli evacuation warning, coming a day after at least 11 people were killed in a strike in the country’s east.

Hezbollah, for its part, said its fighters confronted Israeli troops attempting to move into a town overlooking the city.

The latest bombardment followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s order yesterday for the military to step up attacks on Hezbollah and “crush” the Iran-backed group.

Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman, wrote on X that residents of the entire city “must evacuate your homes immediately and move north of the Zahrani River”.

An AFP correspondent in Nabatieh said airstrikes followed the warning and reported plumes of smoke rising from multiple points across the city.

Mostly emptied since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on 2 March, Nabatieh has come under persistent attack despite the 17 April truce.

In a statement, the health ministry said that “yesterday’s Israeli enemy airstrike on the town of Mashghara in West Bekaa resulted in a preliminary toll of 11 martyrs, including two girls and a woman, and 15 wounded, including a child”.

Rescue teams were still working through the rubble in the eastern town, the ministry said.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it carried out “several strikes … in the area of Mashghara” targeting “Hezbollah infrastructure sites where terrorists’ activity was identified”.

Later, the military issued an evacuation warning for Mashghara as well as nearby Sohmor.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) also reported multiple Israeli strikes across the south and east of the country.

A strike on Srifa in southern Lebanon killed a rescuer and wounded two others from the Risala Scouts association, which is linked to the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement, according to the health ministry, pushing the death toll among rescuers in the war to 120.

Drone attacks

Evacuation warnings near the southern city of Tyre yesterday triggered widespread panic and sent residents fleeing the historic city, according to an AFP correspondent.

The Israeli military said it had struck more than 100 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon overnight.

Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters repelled an Israeli force early today after it advanced toward Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, which overlooks Nabatieh, following airstrikes and intense artillery shelling.

The group said it deployed drones and was engaged in fighting with Israeli soldiers in the town.

Mr Netanyahu said last night that he had ordered “an even greater acceleration of our operations” against Hezbollah.

“It is true that they are attacking us with drones, including fibre-optic drones, but we have teams working on countermeasures and we will solve this issue … We will intensify our blows, increase our firepower, and we will crush them.”

The Israeli army said it “intercepted several explosive drones launched by the Hezbollah terrorist organization toward Israeli territory”.

“Several additional explosive drones fell within Israeli territory, adjacent to the Israel-Lebanon border,” it added, saying no injuries were reported.

Israel has repeatedly struck Lebanon despite the truce in its war with Hezbollah, saying it is targeting the group, while Hezbollah has claimed several attacks on Israeli positions in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

Lebanese authorities say more than 3,100 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since 2 March, when Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war by attacking Israel in support of its backer Iran.