The Israeli Army has issued new orders this Saturday for the forced evacuation of several towns in southern Lebanon located north of the Litani River, the former limit of the Israeli invasion in the country until last Friday. That day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the expansion of military operations after several days of intensified bombings.
The Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli Armed Forces, Avichai Adraee, has urged residents of six towns to move "north of the Zahrani River," about 15 kilometers north of the Litani. The military official justified this extension of the operation by accusing Hezbollah militias of "breaking the ceasefire."
At least eleven people, including two minors, lost their lives this Friday in two Israeli attacks against southern Lebanon, despite the ceasefire agreed in April and after the Israeli prime minister assured on Tuesday that his forces were intensifying their actions against the neighboring country.
Netanyahu reiterated on Tuesday that the Israeli Army is "intensifying" its offensive in Lebanese territory, where more than 3,300 people have already died for this reason since the beginning of March, even with ongoing negotiations with the Lebanese government to try to close a peace agreement.
The latest large-scale hostilities began on March 2, when the Shiite party-militia Hezbollah launched projectiles against Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during the offensive initiated on February 28 by Israel and the United States against the Asian country.
Both sides had agreed to a ceasefire in November 2024, after thirteen months of clashes linked to the October 7, 2023 attacks. However, since then, Israel has continued to carry out bombings recurrently on Lebanese territory and has maintained troops on the ground with the argument of fighting Hezbollah, while Beirut and the group itself denounce these operations.