Estimated Over 1,400 Deaths
More Than 1 Million Evacuated
The Israeli military, continuing its operations against Hezbollah, the pro-Iran armed group in Lebanon, has once again issued evacuation orders on the outskirts of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.
According to Reuters on the 5th (local time), immediately after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders to residents on the southern outskirts of Beirut, witnesses reported hearing a series of explosions and seeing smoke in the area that day.
The first evacuation order from the Israeli military was issued to residents of a building near the Burj al-Barajneh area, the second was issued to people in a building in the Choueifat area, and the third evacuation order was given to buildings in the Burj al-Barajneh and Haret Hreik areas.
AFP reported that Avichay Adrai, the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson, warned residents in the southern Beirut area to evacuate, after which smoke was seen rising near the airport area and loud explosions were heard in succession.
According to AP, the Israeli military also struck around the Masnaa border checkpoint, located 50 km from Beirut, the previous day. AP reported that this caused the main highway connecting Lebanon and Syria to be cut off.
The Israeli military stated that it targeted the area near the Masnaa checkpoint because Hezbollah is bringing weapons from Iran through tunnels leading to Syria. With the road destroyed, people trying to cross into Syria to escape Israeli airstrikes had to abandon their cars and travel on foot to the Masnaa checkpoint.
AP reported that over the past two weeks, 250,000 Syrians and 82,000 Lebanese have fled to Syria through the border. According to the US CNN network, the Lebanese Ministry of Health stated that more than 1,400 people have died and about 7,500 have been injured due to Israel’s attacks over the two weeks. The Lebanese government estimates that the number of refugees exceeds one million.
Following the Gaza Strip war, Israel has been conducting airstrikes on Hezbollah bases since the 23rd of last month, aiming to return residents of northern Israel who fled their homes due to Hezbollah’s attacks, and has been engaged in ground combat in southern Lebanon since the 1st of this month.
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