Israel has ordered the evacuation of residents of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon.


Israel's military warned residents of the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek to evacuate on Wednesday, as it appeared to deepen its campaign against Hezbollah strongholds outside the country's south.

Baalbek, which had a population of about 80,000 before Israel stepped up its attacks on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah this month, is an important urban center in the Bekaa Valley and is famous for its Roman ruins. It is also known as a city dominated by Hezbollah.

But unlike other places where the group has support, the city of Baalbek has largely escaped Israeli bombardment. In a sign that Israel's campaign against Hezbollah could widen, Baalbak was one of two civilian areas targeted by Israel in recent days after the war hit.

The warning came amid renewed diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire, according to three officials briefed on the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity over sensitive diplomacy.

No deal has been reached, but Israel is pushing for an arrangement that would give Hezbollah several weeks to withdraw its forces from the Israel-Lebanon border, allowing the Lebanese government to will be given – which Hezbollah has sidelined in southern Lebanon over the past two days. decades – to fill the gap, according to two officials.

Both officials said Israel wants to guarantee the right to attack Lebanon if Hezbollah does not withdraw quickly enough.

In a statement posted online on Wednesday, the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, published a map showing Baalbek and two neighboring towns, Ain Borde and Durres, in red as part of the danger zone. is marked in, with three evacuation routes adopted. Israeli army.

“The IDF will take forceful action against Hezbollah interests in your cities and villages and does not intend to harm you,” Mr. Adrai said. “For your safety, you should immediately evacuate your homes and move out of the cities and villages.”

Lebanese officials said the evacuation warning came two days after Israeli airstrikes killed at least 60 people in the Bekaa district, which includes the city and its countryside. Lebanon's health ministry says at least 58 others were injured in the attacks.

Farms and villages around the city of Baalbek have been hit by airstrikes several times in recent weeks, leaving many small towns deserted. Baalbek deputy mayor Ibrahim Bayan said earlier this month that nearly two-thirds of the city's residents had fled their homes out of fear.

As people in Baalbek received an evacuation warning via text message on Wednesday morning, alarm spread through the city's streets, Mr Bayan said.

“People are scared,” Mr Bayan said. “They are running around and bumping into each other, like chickens with their heads cut off. They don't know what to do, where to go.

Within minutes, the streets were filled with residents who threw their valuables into plastic bags, locked their homes and pulled metal grates over the doors of their shops, he said. As people piled into cars, they shouted to each other to find the safest way out of town.

Others chose to stay in the city, unsure of where they would go or how to get there.

Baalbek is one of Lebanon's most remote areas and many residents have no means of escape, some said.

“Gas stations are closed, but even if they were open, people don't have money to fill their car tanks,” said Mahmoud Zikra, a Baalbek resident who stayed at home. “There are no vans or taxis – even if they were available, no one could afford to hire them.”

The warning from Israel's military included a village on the southern outskirts of Baalbek that connects the city to the region's main highway, cutting off the standard route for residents trying to leave the valley.

Hezbollah's new leader, Naim Qassem, made his first televised speech on Wednesday afternoon, a day after being named to the post. He replaced the group's longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israel last month.

In the speech, which was delivered after the group fired a barrage of rockets into northern Israel, Mr. Qassem effectively praised his predecessor, saying that Hezbollah had “implemented this war strategy. Imports will continue to produce what it has produced.”

Elsewhere in Lebanon, fighting continues between the Israeli army and Hezbollah. On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had hit more than 100 sites across the country in the past 24 hours, including a rocket launching site used in a deadly attack on the Israeli town of Malot Tarshiha on Tuesday. It also said it had killed a large number of Hezbollah fighters in what it called “limited, localized, targeted raids.”

Mr Adrai said one of the fighters killed by Israeli forces was Mustafa Ahmed Shahadi, who he said was a prominent commander of the group's elite Rizwan Force. Hezbollah did not comment on the claim.

Mr. Idrai said Mr. Shahadi was killed in an attack on Nabatia, a large southern town. On Wednesday, the army also issued an evacuation warning for eight small towns in the district around Nabitiya, urging their residents to move north of the Awali River.

At least 10 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Sidon on Tuesday night, according to a report by the country's national news agency. At least 36 others were injured in the attack, he said. Until recently, attacks on Sidon and its surrounding areas, one of Lebanon's largest cities, were rare.

Hezbollah said its forces had battled Israeli troops in recent days near the border town of Kfar Qila and the mountain town of Khayyam, a former prison camp run by Israel's allies during its two-decade occupation of Lebanon. The place is known as of South Lebanon.

After Israel's withdrawal in 2000, the Lebanese government turned the camp into a museum, although it was later destroyed in an Israeli airstrike during the 2006 Lebanon War.

Hezbollah's claims could not be independently verified. The National News Agency reported that Israeli troops near Khayyam were “attempting to infiltrate the town under heavy fire” on Wednesday and that Israel's air force had carried out several raids in the area.

Jacob Rubai, Haweeda Saad, Rawan Sheikh Ahmed And Patrick Kingsley Cooperation reporting.

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