Israel orders evacuation of 30 villages in Lebanon amid ground incursion

Israeli officials ordered people in about 30 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate yesterday, in the first concrete demands since the military launched what it called "limited, localised, and targeted ground raids" on Monday against Hezbollah.

- Andrew Roth, Peter Beaumont, William Christou

Israel began its incursion, which it has called "Operation Northern Arrow", with a barrage of shelling across the blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon, and said it would send in ground troops against targets in villages close to the boundary that would "pose an immediate threat to communities in northern Israel".

The ground incursion is the first time Israeli troops have launched sustained operations in Lebanon since 2006, when the two countries signed a peace deal that ended a 34-day war between Israel and the Shia militia Hezbollah, which dominates large swathes of southern Lebanon.

In a statement, an Israeli military spokesperson told residents of the villages to evacuate to north of the Awali River, nearly 35 miles from the blue line, as the Israel Defense Forces targeted what they called Hezbollah "attack infrastructure" along the frontier between Israel and Lebanon.

"The IDF does not want to harm you, and for your own safety you must evacuate your homes immediately," Avichay Adraee posted on X, adding that any home used by Hezbollah would be targeted.

It is unclear why Israel's orders, which came before an Iranian ballistic missile attack on Tel Aviv last night, asked people in certain towns in the south, and not neighbouring towns, to leave, nor is it clear why it ordered them to go so far north. "Be careful, you are not allowed to go south. Going south could put your life in danger," the statement added. "We will let you know when it is safe to return home."

Burj al-Shemali, a town of about 60,000 people in south Lebanon that was included in the evacuation order, received calls warning residents to leave, prompting many to flee, Ali Deeb, the mayor, said.