The Israeli military carried out strikes on Hezbollah “drone factories” in southern Lebanon and suburbs of Beirut on Thursday, as large plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the Lebanese capital,
CNN reports.
The Israeli attack marked its biggest escalation in Lebanon since the US-brokered a ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in November.
The Israel Defense Forces said it was striking “terror targets of the Hezbollah Aerial Unit (127)” in the southern suburb of Dahieh, Beirut.
NNA news reported strikes from Israeli drones, saying that a “series of warning strikes, numbering more than seven” had targeted the city’s southern suburbs. The news outlet also said that Israeli drones carried out an airstrike on the town of Ain Qana in Lebanon’s Iklim Tuffah region.
There were no initial reports of casualties related to the strikes, the spokesperson for Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health told CNN early on Friday morning.
The Israeli military had previously warned of a coming strike in the area, intended to target alleged “underground UAV production facilities” controlled by Hezbollah.
IDF Arabic Spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued an “urgent warning” via social media earlier on Thursday, urging residents of “Al-Hadath, Haret Hreik, and Burj Al-Barajneh,” neighborhoods to immediately evacuate buildings marked in red on attached maps and adjacent structures, and to stay at least “300 meters away” for safety.
A second “urgent warning” was issued by the Israeli military via a post on X accompanied by a satellite photo of Lebanon with highlighted zones they said showed the locations of Hezbollah sites. The warning urged residents to evacuate nearby buildings “immediately and stay at least 500 meters away from them.”
