Despite IDF clarification that Lebanon evacuation flyers were unauthorized, residents continue to flee border area
Hezbollah: Only Gaza truce will stop attacks, Israel won’t start all-out war
The Israeli military clarified on Sunday that leaflets calling for the evacuation of areas in southern Lebanon were dropped without its authorization and were invalid.
The decision to airdrop flyers over the village of al-Wazzani was made by a local commander, the IDF stated. The message on the flyers in Arabic read: “Hezbollah is firing from your area, you must leave your homes immediately, move north of the town of Al-Khiam by 4:00 p.m., and do not return until the end of the war.”
According to Army Radio, the commander of the 769th “Hiram” Regional Brigade stationed at the border, Col. Avi Marciano, did not consult the divisional commander or the IDF’s Northern Command before ordering a small drone to drop the flyers.
The drone’s flight also wasn’t coordinated with the Israeli Air Force (IAF), which is typically responsible for such operations, which it has carried out numerous times in the Gaza Strip over the past months.
The area of al-Wazzani has been used as a launch area for rockets many times in recent months, Army Radio reported. In addition, many of the residents in the area are Syrian refugees living in tent camps.
According to KAN News, so far over 100,000 Lebanese citizens have fled the southern part of the country amid the ongoing fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, and more are joining each day as fears of an all-out war have intensified.
Of the approximately 80,000 residents in northern Israel who were evacuated from their homes after Oct. 7, about 60,000 are estimated to still be living in state-sponsored hotel rooms or other temporary lodgings.
The United States has undertaken major diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement and prevent an escalation into an all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel, under the leadership of special envoy, Amos Hochstein.
As Hochstein was set to arrive in Israel on Monday, a Lebanese diplomatic source told the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper that he believes the U.S. still seeks to prevent an escalation of a potential Hezbollah-Israel war, fearing it could morph into a regional conflagration involving several other parties.
On the other hand, Hezbollah continues to tie a ceasefire to the end of the war in Gaza. Those who expect Hezbollah to stop the “aid front before the war in Gaza ends, are betting on something that will not happen,” said Hussein al-Hajj Hassan, a Lebanese Member of Parliament, on behalf of Hezbollah.
“We entered [the fight] to help prevent the enemy (Israel) from winning and to help the chances of the Palestinian factions in Gaza to win,” he told Hezbollah’s Radio Noor.
“American, European, Arab and international envoys came and went and our answer was clear: stop the war in Gaza!”
Despite this, another unnamed Hezbollah Parliament member told the Al-Araby al-Jadeed newspaper that the terror group does not believe Israel will launch an all-out war.
“The enemy is not capable of entering into an extensive war with Hezbollah and he will think a thousand times before entering into such a scenario, that is why we see that he is verbally threatening.”
“We are preparing for every possibility and we have become stronger than before,” the source said.
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The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
