Beirut, Lebanon - Fresh Israeli strikes hit Lebanon’s south and east on Thursday, official media reported and AFP images showed, after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders, including the first for east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Israel has been pounding south and east Lebanon, areas where Hezbollah holds sway, since all-out war erupted on September 23. In the south, AFPTV footage captured smoke billowing after the Israeli military on X warned residents in and near a building in Al-Hawsh, just south of the southern coastal city of Tyre, to evacuate. Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported that “enemy aircraft launched a strike that targeted” the Al-Hawsh area, also reporting a strike in Burj al-Shemali near the city, after Israeli army evacuation orders. The Israeli military subsequently issued similar evacuation warnings for other locations in south Lebanon. In the country’s east, the Israeli army for the first time issued evacuation orders for parts of the Bekaa Valley, after repeatedly pounding the region with intense air strikes over the past three weeks.
The NNA said that “enemy aircraft targeted a building in the village of Safri on the Riyak-Baalbek international highway” in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, “around 10 minutes after the enemy threatened to target it and ordered its evacuation”.
It also said “enemy aircraft launched a strike on the village of Saraain al-Tahta” and Tamnine nearby, also after Israeli army evacuation orders.
