Israel orders new evacuations as forces push deeper into Lebanon

BEIRUT, (Lebanon): Israel’s military issued evacuation warnings on Saturday for residents of seven villages in southern Lebanon, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces had pushed deeper into the country.

The latest warnings came a day after military delegations from the two countries held landmark security talks in Washington and ahead of US-brokered negotiations early next week — the fourth round since the latest Israel-Hezbollah conflict erupted. Israel has kept up its heavy bombardment of south Lebanon, with President Joseph Aoun emphasising in a call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio “the need to exert all efforts to reach a ceasefire”.

A truce to halt the fighting between Israel and Tehran-backed Hezbollah officially took effect on April 17, but has never been observed, and Iran insists that Lebanon be included in any agreement with the United States to end the wider war that engulfed the region in February.

Both Israel and Hezbollah accuse each other of violating the ceasefire and justify their attacks by the other’s alleged breaches.

The Israeli military’s evacuation warnings for Saturday included some villages near Nabatieh.

Also on Saturday, Hezbollah said it fired rockets at the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona.

The group later said it ambushed Israeli soldiers near Ghandouriyeh, southern Lebanon, saying it forced them to withdraw, and fired rockets at a military base in north Israel.

On Friday, Hezbollah had said it launched attacks in northern Israel and Israel’s military confirmed intercepting several projectiles from Lebanon, with one hitting near Kiryat Shmona. Hezbollah also said it attacked Israeli troops trying to advance near the medieval Beaufort fortress, also known as Qalaat al-Chakif, which Israel’s forces had used as a base during their two-decade occupation of southern Lebanon ending in 2000.

Netanyahu announced Friday that Israeli forces had advanced beyond a river that runs around 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of the Lebanon-Israel frontier.

“Our forces have crossed the Litani, they have moved up to the commanding terrain,” he said, adding Israel was “hitting Hezbollah head on”.

Israel and Lebanon began direct talks in April, with a fourth round expected next week in Washington following Friday’s meeting at the Pentagon, running parallel to US efforts to strike a deal with Iran to end the regional war. Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s second-in-command, called the discussions “productive” in a post on X.

Lebanon was drawn into the regional war when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in early March in retaliation for the death of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.

Hezbollah strongly opposes talks with US representatives and has refused to disarm.