Israel issues evacuation warning for Lebanese civilians as it launches ‘extensive’ attacks

TEL AVIV – Israel dramatically expanded its air strikes on Lebanon on Monday. The air strikes killed At least 356 people were killed and nearly 1,030 others were wounded. This seemed to be the signal for the start of a more comprehensive military campaign.

Israeli officials said their forces had struck 1,300 “terror targets” in Lebanon linked to Hezbollah, a militant group that has been firing rockets at Israel for nearly a year.

Not only was it the highest death toll on this front this year, it was also the deadliest day in the conflict with Israel since the 34-day war between the two countries in 2006.

“These figures also include many terrorists we killed today who were near the weapons,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said when asked about the high death toll.

Hezbollah has hidden weapons in private homes, Hagari said, including “cruise missiles with a range of hundreds of kilometers, heavy rockets with a 1,000-kilogram warhead, medium-range missiles with a range of up to 200 kilometers, short-range missiles and armed unmanned aerial vehicles.”

Hagari said the Israeli attacks would not subside anytime soon.

“We have challenging days ahead,” he said. “We remain focused on defense and offense on all fronts.”

The Israeli army had previously said it would expand its “large-scale, precise attacks on terror targets” in the Bekaa Valley along Lebanon's eastern border and warned civilians to stay away from Hezbollah positions.

“Whoever tries to hurt us, we will hurt them even more,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the military headquarters in Tel Aviv, adding that “difficult days” lay ahead for Israelis.

“I promised that we would change the security balance, the balance of power in the north,” he said. “And that is exactly what we are doing.”

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been bombing each other since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack sparked Israel's invasion of Gaza. Many experts agree that neither Israel nor Iran want a full-blown direct conflict, but they fear that escalating attacks could lead to one.