Netanyahu made the announcement after meeting with Defense Minister Israel Katz and Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, chief of staff for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in Tel Aviv to discuss Israel’s response to persistent Hezbollah attacks. Hezbollah has been launching drone attacks from the north side of the river, using fiber optic control systems and visual targeting that make their drones very difficult to intercept or jam. IDF units are reportedly scrambling to improvise defenses against the drone surge. Also on Tuesday, the IDF issued an evacuation order for the Lebanese city of Tyre and its suburbs. Tyre is the fifth-largest city in Lebanon, with about 200,000 residents. The IDF said the evacuation was necessary because it will begin striking “Hezbollah command centers” in the city.
“In light of the terrorist Hezbollah organization violating the ceasefire agreement and targeting Israeli territory, the IDF is compelled to act forcefully against it,” said Avichay Adraee, an Arab-language spokesman for the Israeli military. “The IDF does not intend to harm you. For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately, according to the area shown on the map, and move north of the Zahrani River,” Adraee told Tyre residents in a post on social media platform X.
Hezbollah claimed on Wednesday that its fighters “clashed with the enemy forces at point-blank rage” in the town of Zawtar al-Shaqiyah, which is located on the edge of the Yellow Line in southern Lebanon. The town is a strategic position the IDF hopes to occupy in order to reinforce its safety buffer zone. (Read More)
