Israel launches new wave of attacks on southern and eastern Lebanon 

Israeli forces have launched a series of attacks across southern and eastern Lebanon, as Israel targets the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah amid the joint Israeli-United States war on Iran.

The Israeli army warned of imminent strikes on south Lebanon’s Tyre and Sidon on Tuesday, after Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli warplanes launched attacks overnight on the towns of Almajadel, Chaqra, Srifa and in the Bekaa Valley.

“Urgent warning to the residents of Tyre and Sidon. The IDF will soon attack military infrastructure belonging to the terrorist organisation Hezbollah,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, posted on X, urging residents in the area to “evacuate immediately and move at least 300 metres [about 1,000ft] away”.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has intensified since the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during US-Israeli strikes last week. Since then, the opposing forces have clashed in eastern Lebanon, while Israel has carried out attacks across Lebanon, including the capital, Beirut.

“There is a battle for control over south Lebanon, with the Israeli military increasing its presence along the border and within Lebanese territory,” said Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Zahrani in Lebanon.

Israeli media are reporting that “Israel wants to expand its presence in southern Lebanon, expand that buffer zone,” she said, but “Hezbollah says it has so far repelled advances on a number of axes.”

Earlier on Tuesday, NNA reported heavy Israeli attacks near the town of Ansariya as well as on the outskirts of Bint Jbeil and Ainatha. It said four people were killed in the Bint Jbeil district.

Al Jazeera Arabic reported other Israeli attacks in the southern Lebanese towns of Majdal in the Tyre district and Kafr Sasir in the Nabatieh district.

This came as Lebanese media reported that a Maronite Catholic priest, Father Pierre al-Rahi, was killed by Israeli tank fire in the village of Qlayaa in southern Lebanon.

Lebanese newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour reported that al-Rahi was killed after an Israeli tank fired on the home of a local couple a second time after several people had rushed there to try to help.

“We narrowly escaped a massacre, because there were many of us there,” said Hanna Daher, the head of council in the village of Qlayaa, according to L’Orient-Le Jour. “Despite this, several people were injured, including the priest, Pierre el-Rahi, who succumbed to his wounds.”

A day before he was killed, al-Rahi had spoken to the France24 television channel from the steps of his church in Qlayaa, telling them he would stay to defend the village, peacefully.

“We are forced to stay despite the danger, when we defend our land, and we do so peacefully,” al-Rahi told France24. “None of us carries weapons. All of us carry peace and goodness and love,” he added.

Separately, the Israeli army announced that in the past week, it had hit 30 sites belonging to the Al-Qard al-Hasan association in Lebanon, “which is affiliated with Hezbollah”.

NNA reported that the nonprofit was also bombed by Israeli forces in October 2024. At the time, Amnesty International said the attacks should be investigated as a war crime, as branches of financial institutions are civilian objects unless they are used for military purposes.

As Israeli attacks continue, Hezbollah has also increased its counterattacks.

At least 16 people were injured in a Hezbollah missile attack on central Israel, according to Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency medical service.

Hezbollah also said it launched a missile attack on the Givaa drone control base, east of the Israeli city of Safad, and fired rockets at the Yiftah barracks near the border.

Hezbollah’s fighters launched several attacks on Israeli troops in the southern parts of Lebanon. It said its fighters ambushed Israeli soldiers on the outskirts of the city of Khiam and hit three Merkava tanks. The three vehicles were seen burning, it said.

On Monday, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged both Hezbollah and Israel to stop their actions, calling for a return to the November 2024 ceasefire to stop the country “sliding into chaos”.

In a statement after crisis talks with Middle East leaders, including Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Kallas called on Hezbollah to “cease all actions against Israel,” asserting the country’s “right to self-defence”.

She also called out Israel for “heavy-handed” retaliation that was “causing mass displacement” and “further destabilising a fragile situation”.

“Israel should cease its operations in Lebanon,” she said, warning that it “risks drawing Lebanon and its people into a war that is not theirs, with severe humanitarian consequences”.

Aoun on Monday accused Hezbollah of working towards the “collapse” of the state, expressing Beirut’s readiness for “direct negotiations” with Israel.