Israeli military expands orders for people in southern Lebanon to leave

BEIRUT – The Israeli military on March 12 nearly doubled the area of southern Lebanon that it said residents should leave, hours after Israel’s defence minister said the military had been instructed to expand its operation in Lebanon.

Israel launched an air and ground offensive last week against Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which launched attacks at Israel on March 2 that it said aimed to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader at the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Hezbollah has fired rockets and drones at Israel every day since, including its largest barrage late on March 11 that triggered heavy Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Israel has pounded the country’s south, east and the capital’s southern suburbs, killing more than 600 people. It has also ordered mass evacuations in those same areas, pushing more than 800,000 people out of their homes.

The new orders on March 12, issued by an Israeli military spokesperson on X, mean Israel has now ordered residents out of their homes in a tenth of Lebanese territory, according to a Reuters calculation.

Israel orders evacuation in central Beirut

The Israeli military spokesperson said residents of south Lebanon should move north of the Zahrani river, about 40km north of the Israeli border.

The spokesperson also issued an evacuation order for a neighbourhood in central Beirut near a row of upscale restaurants, saying the Israeli military would strike a building there.

Hezbollah’s rocket and drone attack on March 11 was synced with an attack from Tehran, according to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. An Israeli defence official said it was the first coordinated action between the two against Israel since the war began.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military had been instructed to expand its operations in Lebanon.

“We promised quiet and security to the communities of the north, and that is exactly what we will deliver,” he said at a meeting with senior military officials.

Mr Katz warned Lebanese President Joseph Aoun that if the Lebanese government could not prevent Hezbollah from attacking Israel, “we will take the territory and do it ourselves”, according to a statement released by his office.

Lebanon said in 2025 it aims to establish a state monopoly on arms and its cabinet last week outlawed any military activities not carried out by the Lebanese state.

On March 11, Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires over the joint attack, saying it violated last week’s decree, said a source familiar with the matter.

‘My heart is dead’

Israel says it has killed several members of Iran’s Quds Force in Lebanon, including in a strike on a hotel in the heart of Beirut on March 8.

A pre-dawn strike early on March 12 in Beirut killed 12 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

It hit a seafront sidewalk where dozens of displaced families had set up tents and were sleeping out in the streets.

“Who’s in these tents? There are children, elderly people, and women in them. Israel... what justification will it create for last night’s strike?” said Mr Abu Ali, a displaced man.

“My heart is dead, my heart is dead. I’m not like before, when one would be afraid only for himself,” he told Reuters.

The head of the UN’s International Organization for Migration condemned the March 12 strike.

“Many displaced people who have been forced to make the streets of Beirut their home... Tents and makeshift shelters offer no protection from the dangers of bombardment,” Ms Amy Pope said in a statement. REUTERS