Israel orders Lebanon evacuations as limited ground operation against Hezbollah is underway
The Israeli military is warning residents of certain communities in Lebanon to leave their homes Tuesday as a "limited" ground operation against the terrorist group Hezbollah is underway.
A security official handles the remains of a rocket that landed on a highway near Kfar Qasim, Israel, on Tuesday, Oct. 1, after it was fired from Lebanon into Israel. (Reuters/Moti Milrod)
Details are emerging Tuesday regarding Israel’s military operations inside Lebanon, with two Lebanese security sources telling Reuters that units crossed the border overnight for probing and reconnaissance missions.
The maneuvers by the Israeli troops went only a short distance across the Israel-Lebanon border, an Israeli security official told the news agency, adding that there was no direct contact with Hezbollah terrorists.
Local sources also said to Reuters that residents in southern Lebanon have been fleeing their homes over the last two days as Israeli airstrikes are drawing nearer.
At least 600 are now taking refuge in a monastery near the border after the village of Ain Ebl received a warning from the Israeli military, the sources added.
Hezbollah also said Tuesday that it fired missiles targeting suburbs of Tel Aviv, which Israeli officials say left two wounded after they were hit by shrapnel from the blasts, according to Reuters.
The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday that it has called up " four additional reserve brigades for operational missions in the northern arena.”
“This will enable the continuation of operational activity against the Hezbollah terrorist organization and the achievement of operational goals, including the safe return of the residents of northern Israel to their homes,” the IDF said in a statement.
The development comes as Israel’s military is conducting limited ground operations inside Lebanon.
Hezbollah Radwan forces train in southern Lebanon close to the Israeli border. (AP/Hassan Ammar/File)
As Israel continues to pound the Hezbollah terrorist movement in some of the most intense clashes since the 2006 war, United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSC) 1701 is facing new criticism for failing to disarm the Lebanon-based terrorist organization.
The U.S. and other world powers passed Resolution 1701 at the United Nations Security Council in 2006 in an attempt to prevent a third war between Israel and the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hezbollah. Israel fought Hezbollah in 1982 and in the summer of 2006.
Two key elements of Resolution 1701 have proved to be largely ineffective, according to experts on Lebanon and the U.N.
The first part involved the 10,000 peacekeeping (with added personnel) U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that was expanded in 2006 to aid the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) in assuming military control over the region, replacing Hezbollah, between the Litani River and the southern border in Lebanon.
UNIFIL was tasked to work with the LAF to ensure the area was "free of any armed personnel, assets, and weapons." However, Hezbollah’s growing absorption of the Lebanese state has turned it the de facto ruler over the country, according to many experts, or a heavily armed "state within a state."
The second crucial element of 1701 was to disarm Hezbollah. Yet, the Lebanese terrorist entity has dramatically re-armed itself to the point where it now has at least 150,000 missiles and rockets aimed at Israel.
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, Oct. 1. (AP/Hassan Ammar)
North Korea on Tuesday is accusing Israel of committing “terrorist acts against Lebanon” following its strikes targeting Hezbollah terrorists inside the country.
“Israel is resorting to massacre, terrorism and assassination, talking about the ‘right to self-defense' and ‘security.’ Its brutality and shamelessness are arousing great hatred and resentment of the international community,” North Korean state media quoted a foreign ministry spokesperson as saying Tuesday.
“It is a hideous war crime and unethical crime that Israel killed many civilians by committing indiscriminate military attacks and terrorist acts against Lebanon,” the spokesperson continued, describing Israel and the U.S. as “cancer-like entities of regional peace and stability and the common enemy of the Arab people.”
“We strongly denounce Israel which is expanding its large-scale massacre of innocent civilians to the whole Middle East... and express invariable support and solidarity to the Arab people in their struggle for defending sovereignty, right to existence and territorial integrity,” the North Korean official added.
Fox News’ Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report.
An armed Israeli Apache helicopter is seen from northern Israel, near the Israeli-Lebanon border, on Tuesday, Oct. 1. (AP/Leo Correa)
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has released a statement Tuesday slamming Israel’s limited ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon, calling it an “illegal invasion attempt” that must “end immediately.”
“Israel’s violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon by launching a ground attack is an illegal invasion attempt,” the Ministry said. “This attack must come to an end immediately, and Israeli troops must withdraw from Lebanese territory.”
Turkey added that Israel’s military operation “targets the security and stability of the region and beyond.
“This dangerous invasion attempt is likely to spark a new wave of migration and to give ground to extremists all around the world,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
The Ministry concluded that the U.N. Security Council “must uphold international law and take the necessary measures against this attack that aims the occupation of Lebanon.”
Former Navy SEAL Cameron Hamilton, who has trained Israeli soldiers, told "Fox News @ Night" that the Israeli military has “done a very effective job by reducing Hezbollah’s rocket infrastructure to less than 50 percent.”
“Israel does feel, I’m sure, emboldened here with some momentum,” he continued. “I think they have to ensure that they keep their borders safe and we will see how long this goes.”
Hamilton added that Israel wants peace and “they don’t want this conflict to continue.”
The Israeli military announced Monday night that its troops began “limited, localized, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah terrorist targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
“These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel,” the Israel Defense Forces said.
A missile fired by Hezbollah landed in the central Israeli village of Kfar Qassem on Tuesday, Oct. 1, the IDF says. (IDF)
The Israel Defense Forces released a video Tuesday purportedly showing a missile that was fired by Hezbollah landing in a village in central Israel.
The IDF says the projectile landed in Kfar Qassem, which is located east of Tel Aviv.
“Hezbollah doesn’t care who, or how. They only care about harming Israelis,” the IDF wrote on X.
The two sides have been exchanging rocket fire since Hamas launched its war on Israel on Oct. 7 last year.
On Monday, Hezbollah’s second-in-command Naim Qassem said the terrorist group will continue to fire rockets at Israel, adding that “We know that the battle may be long,” according to Reuters.
Photos of Syrians celebrating the assassination of Hezbollah terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah last week put the spotlight on the brutal activities of the terror group's role in sex slavery, mass starvation and kidnappings in the Syrian civil war which led to the deaths of over half a million Syrians.
Walid Phares, a leading expert on Hezbollah and Lebanon, told Fox News Digital that Hezbollah has "committed ethnic cleansing" in Syria. He said Hezbollah "was behind the uprooting of millions of Syrians, of all communities, mainly Sunni. They have perpetrated rape. They have perpetrated mass sexual abuse, including keeping sexual slaves."
Israel’s targeted assassination of Nasrallah last weekend has prompted greater interest in the inner workings of the Shiite terrorist organization that is widely considered the de facto ruler over Lebanon.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist entity is mainly known in America for bombing the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, which killed 63 people in 1983, and the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut also in 1983, resulting in the murders of 241 U.S. military personnel.
A new investigative video series by the Center for Peace Communications (CPC) shines a rare light on the U.S.-designated terrorist movement Hezbollah’s role in sexual slavery, rape and mass murder. The shocking expose about Hezbollah’s enslavement of a Syrian woman aired days after Israel reportedly launched devastating explosions of pagers held by thousands of Hezbollah terrorists across Lebanon in September.
CPC President Joseph Braude told Fox News Digital "Hezbollah’s war on Israel obscures its larger war to subjugate much of the region — as a tyrant in Lebanon, an occupier in Syria, a mafia of sex and drug trafficking, and the nerve center of Iran’s Arab empire. Millions of Arabs whose lives have been shattered by the militia want a different future. Hezbollah does not want the world to hear their voices."
The Israeli Defense Forces announced Tuesday it was carrying out "limited and targeted" raids along Israel's northern border against the terror group Hezbollah.
The ground raids will target Hezbollah strongholds that threaten Israeli communities along the Jewish State's northern border, according to IDF spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
Hagari said Hezbollah turned villages in Lebanon into military bases in preparation for an attack on Israel.
Israeli soldiers work on tanks at a staging area in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border on Tuesday, Oct. 1. (AP/Baz Ratner)
The Israel Defense Forces’ Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee is urging residents of dozens of villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes Tuesday as the limited ground operation against Hezbollah is underway.
“Hezbollah's activities are forcing the IDF to act against it. The IDF does not want to harm you, and for your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately,” he wrote on X. “Anyone who is near Hezbollah members, installations, and combat equipment is putting [their] life at risk. Any home used by Hezbollah for its military needs is expected to be targeted.
“You must immediately head north of the Awali River. Save your lives and evacuate your homes immediately,” he added. “Be careful, you are not allowed to head south. Any head south could put your life at risk. We will let you know when it is safe to return home.”
The IDF announced earlier Tuesday that it was carrying out "limited and targeted" raids along Israel's northern border against the terrorist group Hezbollah.
The raids come after Israeli airstrikes over the last week killed multiple top members of Hezbollah, including the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report.
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