Israel orders evacuation of some southern Lebanon towns amid surge in displacement Reuters
Written by Amina Ismail and Ahmed Tolba
BEIRUT/CAIRO – The Israeli army ordered residents of 23 villages in southern Lebanon on Saturday to move to areas north of the Awali River, which flows from the west of the Bekaa Valley into the Mediterranean.
The order, conveyed in a military statement, refers to the villages in the south of Lebanon that have been attacked by Israel recently, most of which are now almost empty.
The Israeli military has said that people must evacuate for the safety of civilians due to the increasing activities of Hezbollah, saying that the group uses sites to hide weapons and launch attacks in Israel.
Hezbollah denies hiding weapons among civilians.
Another member of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, was shot on Friday, it said in a statement on Saturday, adding that the man is stable after undergoing surgery to remove the bullet.
The statement also said its location in the southern Lebanese city of Ramyah was heavily damaged by nearby bombings, but did not specify who carried out the attack.
Two UN peacekeepers were injured in an Israeli strike near their observation post in southern Lebanon on Friday, prompting criticism from the international organization and various nations.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which erupted last year when the Iran-backed group began launching rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas at the start of the war in Gaza, escalated last month.
Israel’s intensified offensive in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and southern suburbs of Beirut has forced nearly 1.2 million people from their homes since September 23, according to the Lebanese government.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Saturday that more Lebanese have been displaced than during the last major war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, when about 1 million fled their homes.
