AP
Beirut
Israel sent additional troops into southern Lebanon on Tuesday and ordered residents of more than 80 villages to evacuate as the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group said it is ready for an open war, escalating the already volatile situation in the region.
The latest exchanges started after Hezbollah fired rockets and drones early Monday toward northern Israel. Israel retaliated with a wave of airstrikes that killed 52 people in Lebanon, including a Palestinian militant and a Hezbollah intelligence official in Beirut’s southern suburbs. More than 150 people were wounded and tens of thousands displaced.
Hezbollah said Tuesday morning it fired two salvos of rockets toward northern Israel while Israeli airstrikes overnight damaged a building housing Hezbollah’s TV and radio stations. Beirut’s southern suburbs were subjected to a series of strikes in the early afternoon on Tuesday that came without warning, and the Israeli military later said it targeted Hezbollah officials.
The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesman, Avichay Adraee, issued a warning for residents of more than 80 villages and towns asking them to leave, adding that people should not return to these areas until
further notice.
A senior Hezbollah official said that after more than a year of abiding by a ceasefire as Israel’s strikes continued on Lebanon, the group’s patience has ended, leaving it with no option “but to return to resistance” and fight an open
war with Israel.
“The Zionist enemy wanted an open war, which it has not stopped since the ceasefire agreement,” Mohamoud Komati said “So let it be an open war.”
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told the ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the US, France and Egypt on Tuesday that Hezbollah has been firing rockets from areas north of the Litani River. The Lebanese government says it has disarmed Hezbollah south of the river, along the border with Israel.
