By Ari Rabinovitch and Maya Gebeily
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s military has launched its widest wave of air strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah, simultaneously targeting southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and the northern region near Syria in nearly a year of conflict.
Asked by reporters about a possible Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon, Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said “we will do whatever is necessary” to get evacuated residents of northern Israel back to their homes safely, a wartime priority for the Israeli government.
The latest attacks came amid some of the most intense cross-border exchanges of fire in a conflict that is raging alongside the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Hagari called on residents of southern Lebanon to stay away from Hezbollah posts.
Hagari said Hezbollah has over the years hidden weapons, including cruise missiles, in homes and buildings across southern Lebanon, and called on residents to stay away from such sites.
Hagari presented at a news conference an aerial video of what he described as Hezbollah operatives attempting to launch cruise missiles from a civilian home in Lebanon, and the subsequent Israeli strike moments before they were launched.
“Hezbollah is putting you in danger. It is putting you and your families in danger,” Hagari said.
He said Israel began attacking Hezbollah positions in Lebanon after identifying the intention to fire at Israel.
Israeli warplanes carried out a wave of airstrikes on towns along Lebanon’s southern border and further north on Monday morning, Reuters witnesses said.
Reuters journalists in the southern port city of Tyre could hear warplanes flying low over southern Lebanon and a series of airstrikes nearby.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television channel reported Israeli airstrikes on the outskirts of many towns and villages in the south and the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon. Images showed plumes of smoke rising over the south.
In addition to attacking the Bekaa Valley region in eastern Lebanon, the warplanes also carried out airstrikes in the Hermel area in northern Lebanon, Hezbollah’s al-Manar reported.
Hezbollah and Israel exchanged heavy fire on Sunday, with the Lebanese militant group firing rockets into northern Israeli territory after coming under heavy bombardment.
Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem told mourners at the funeral of one of the group’s commanders killed last week in Beirut: “We have entered a new phase, the title of which is the open battle of reckoning.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said operations would continue until it was safe for evacuees on his side of the border to return, also setting the stage for a long conflict as Iran-backed Hezbollah has vowed to fight on until a ceasefire in the parallel war in Gaza.
Hezbollah has come under unprecedented pressure since thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded last week.
The attack, an unprecedented security breach, was widely blamed on Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.
The conflict, which has escalated dramatically in the past week, has continued since Hezbollah opened a second front against Israel, saying it was acting in support of Palestinians facing an Israeli offensive further south in Gaza.