Israel orders residents of more villages in southern Lebanon to move north

 

From CNN’s Tamar Michaelis and Eyad Kourdi

Israel’s military ordered residents of more than 30 villages in southern Lebanon to leave their homes and move north on Friday as it battles Hezbollah fighters in a cross-border ground incursion.

Some of the villages listed in the new order had been included in previous Israeli warnings to move north.

“For your safety, evacuate your homes immediately and move to the north of the Al-Awali River. Save your lives,” The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X.

“Anyone near Hezbollah members, facilities, or military equipment is putting their life at risk. Any house used by Hezbollah for its military needs is likely to be targeted.”

The Israeli military would notify residents when it was safe to return to their homes, Adraee added.

About 1 million displaced people in Lebanon have sought shelter from the fighting.

Nearly half of the people in Lebanon’s emergency shelters for displaced people are children, and the facilities are operating beyond capacity, Michael Adams, the Lebanon country director at humanitarian agency CARE International, told CNN on Thursday.