The Israel Defense Forces and the Defense Ministry said Sunday they plan to evacuate an additional 14 communities near the Lebanese border amid repeated rocket attacks by Hezbollah and allied Palestinian groups over the past two weeks.
The ministry’s National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) said residents were being taken to government-funded guesthouses.
Last week, NEMA began evacuating 28 communities less than two kilometers from the border, as well as the town of Kiryat Shmona.
According to the IDF and the Ministry of Defense, the following 14 communities will be added to the list: Snir, Dan, Beit Hillel, She’ar Yashuv, Hagoshrim, Liman, Matzuva, Eylon, Goren, Gornot HaGalil, Even Menachem, Sasa, Tziv’on and Ramot Naftali.
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories
By registering you agree to the terms and conditions
The email address is invalid or missing
Please try again. The email address is invalid or missing
Please try again.
Many residents of northern border towns have already been evacuated south due to the escalating attacks from Lebanon.
An IDF spokesman said Sunday that Hezbollah’s escalating attacks risked “dragging Lebanon into war.”
Residents of Kiryat Shmona will be evacuated from the city on October 20, 2023 (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
“Hezbollah… is dragging Lebanon into a war from which it will gain nothing but lose much,” warned Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus. “You are escalating the situation.”
“Hezbollah is playing a very, very dangerous game. You are escalating the situation. We are seeing more and more attacks every day,” he said.
“Is the Lebanese state really willing to risk what remains of Lebanese prosperity and sovereignty for the benefit of terrorists in Gaza?” he asked. “This is a question that the Lebanese authorities must ask themselves and answer.”
There have been repeated clashes in southern Lebanon over the past two weeks between the Israeli military and the terrorist group Hezbollah and allied Palestinian factions, amid fears of the opening of a new front as Israel continues its war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
On Sunday morning, the IDF said it had attacked a terrorist cell in southern Lebanon that was planning an anti-tank missile attack on the northern community of Avivim.
The IDF released a video of the attack.
In another incident, the IDF used one of its tanks to fire at a terrorist cell that was firing an anti-tank missile from Lebanon toward the Mount Dov area. The military said there were no casualties among IDF troops and no damage was caused by the rocket.
In the early hours of Sunday, the IDF said it attacked a Hezbollah position from which an anti-aircraft missile was fired at an Israeli drone. The IDF said the missile was intercepted by air defenses and that the military drone was not damaged.
On Saturday, an Israeli soldier was seriously injured and two others were slightly injured in a Hezbollah rocket attack from Lebanon near the northern municipality of Bar’am. In another Hezbollah attack, two foreign workers from Thailand were injured by shrapnel in the area of Margaliot, another community in northern Israel.
Israel responded with a drone strike against the anti-tank missile unit in southern Lebanon that fired the missile at Margaliot. The IDF said it also carried out drone strikes against two other terrorist groups in southern Lebanon that were preparing attacks with anti-tank missiles.
The military also said fighter jets struck a number of Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon on Saturday in response to rocket attacks claimed by Hezbollah.
In an earlier drone strike on Saturday, the IDF said it hit a cell firing rockets from Lebanon in the Mount Dov area on the border.
Smoke rises from inside an Israeli army position hit by rockets from the Hezbollah terror group, seen from the village of Tair Harfa, a Lebanese border village with Israel, southern Lebanon, October 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Hezbollah has fired dozens of anti-tank missiles, rockets and mortars at Israeli military positions and Israeli cities since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, while allowing gunmen – some affiliated with Palestinian terror groups – to enter northern Israel. Several drones were also intercepted over northern Israel.
The scale of the attacks has so far remained limited as Israel has threatened that Lebanon could be harmed if Hezbollah increases its attacks.
At least six Israeli soldiers, 19 Hezbollah terrorists and six Palestinian terrorists were killed in the clashes. An Israeli civilian was killed in a Hezbollah attack, and several Lebanese civilians and a journalist were also reportedly killed by Israeli fire.
The attacks from Lebanon come as Israel wages war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the terrorist group’s murderous attack on the country on October 7, killing about 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and abducting and abducting more than 200 to the Gaza Strip became .
Agencies contributed to this report.