The IDF instructed civilians to move away from homes where Hezbollah has stored munitions.
By Joshua Marks, JNS
The Israeli Air Force struck over 1,600 Hezbollah targets in Southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley over the past 24 hours as part of “Operation Northern Arrows,” according to the Israeli military.
Among the targets hit was a terror cell that launched 20 rockets in three barrages at the Afula and HaAmakim areas in northern Israel overnight Monday. The launchers used in those attacks were also destroyed.
Also overnight, Israel Defense Forces artillery and tanks struck additional Hezbollah targets in the area of Ayta ash Shab and Ramyeh in Southern Lebanon.
The overnight strikes came after Monday’s massive Israeli aerial offensive, during which fighter jets hit rocket launchers, command posts and structures, including civilian residences, used by Hezbollah to store munitions.
According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, 558 people were killed and 1,835 were wounded in the Israeli attacks. The ministry’s figures did not distinguish between combatants and noncombatants.
Thousands of Lebanese have evacuated from the south as Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah terror targets intensifies after the IDF instructed civilians to move away from homes where Hezbollah has stored munitions.
In addition to Southern Lebanon, the IAF continued striking Hezbollah terror targets in the Bekaa Valley deep inside Lebanese territory on Tuesday morning.
Hezbollah continued to launch rocket attacks on Tuesday, firing more than 100 rockets at northern Israel and causing multiple injuries, including a 25-year-old man moderately wounded by shrapnel during a barrage towards the Mount Carmel area.
Sirens sounded in the northern Israeli coastal city of Nahariya and surrounding areas. Two rockets from Lebanon fell into the sea, according to the IDF. There were no injuries or damage.
Rocket alerts were also heard in communities in the Galilee region and near the large port city of Haifa. Rocket fire was reported in Afula and Nazareth.
A 58-year-old woman was lightly injured by shrapnel in the Druze village of Yarka in the Western Galilee, according to the Magen David Adom emergency service. She was transported to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya along with a 61-year-old man suffering from anxiety. They were both sitting in a car. MDA teams were also treating several people injured on their way to shelters and additional anxiety cases.
Also, a supermarket was reportedly damaged by shrapnel in the Arab town of Tamra in the Lower Galilee and several fires were reported following a heavy barrage in the area of Kiryat Shmona, including blazes at municipal warehouses. The evacuated border town has been continuously targeted over the past year.
Sirens were also activated in Tel Hai, Kfar Giladi, Metula, and other towns in the region.
Since Friday, Hezbollah has launched hundreds of rockets at Israel, forcing over a million people to run to bomb shelters. On Monday, Iran’s Lebanese terror proxy fired deeper into Israeli territory than it had since joining the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8, including at Haifa and northern Samaria.
Hezbollah has fired more than 8,800 rockets, missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) toward Israel since Oct. 8. The strikes have forced over 60,000 Israelis to evacuate from northern communities, severely impacting daily life in the region.
Jerusalem has ramped up its rhetoric and escalated attacks on Hezbollah since recently adding the return of residents to the north as an official war goal.
The government on Monday evening approved the declaration of a “special emergency situation” countrywide, granting authorities more powers to ensure the safety of the civilian population. The declaration will expire after 48 hours unless extended by Cabinet ministers.
There were no specific changes to the Home Front Command instructions for areas of Israel outside of the northern region. However, there were changes to some border area communities, with no in-person educational activities in the Megido area, Yokneam Illit, Daliyat al-Karmel and Isfiya. The IDF Home Front Command had already cancelled school for communities from Haifa northwards.
Meanwhile, foreign airlines continue to suspend flights to and from Ben Gurion Airport. Wizz Air, British Airways and Azerbaijan Airlines canceled flights on Tuesday. The Lufthansa Group, which includes Lufthansa Airlines, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings, announced on Monday that it was extending its suspension of flights to Ben Gurion Airport until Oct. 14.
On Monday night, the IDF provided video and photographic documentation of how Hezbollah stores munitions inside the homes of civilians in Southern Lebanon, including images of a long-range missile on a hydraulic system in the attic of a home in the village of Houmine al-Tahta.
“It is ready to launch from an opening in the roof. Under the attic, on the first floor, a Lebanese family lives, serving as a human shield,” IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a press conference.
“This is an immediate and real threat to Israeli civilians, and we have an obligation to remove it,” he added.
Also, the IDF released video footage of an airstrike against a Lebanese home where Hezbollah had stored munitions. The video shows a rocket flying out of the building after the strike and hitting an adjacent house.
