Lebanon: Israeli leaflets call on southern residents to evacuate

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Israeli leaflets were dropped on southern Lebanon on Sunday, urging residents to evacuate, state media and a local official reported, with the Israeli military calling it an unapproved brigade initiative. It was the first time Israeli leaflets have been dropped on southern Lebanon urging residents to evacuate since clashes broke out in early October between Israel and the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian Hamas.

“Anyone in this area after this time will be considered a terrorist element.”

According to the Lebanese National News Agency (ANI), the leaflets from the “Israeli enemy” were dropped over Wazzani, about 5 km from the border. Contacted by AFP, its mayor, Ahmad al-Mohammad, confirmed the information. “To all residents and residents of the refugee camp areas, Hezbollah is shooting from your area. You must immediately leave your homes and head to the north of the Khiam region before 4 p.m. (1300 GMT), and not return to this area until the end of the war,” read a leaflet seen by AFP.

“Anyone in this area after this time will be considered a terrorist element,” it added. Questioned by AFP, the Israeli army affirmed that it was an “initiative of the brigade 769 which had not been approved by the Northern Command” and that an investigation had been opened.

Hezbollah warns

The leaflets were dropped by drone on an area from which “rockets have been fired toward northern Israel in recent weeks,” the military said. The Wazzani region is an agricultural area whose residents employ Syrian refugee families to work the land. While the exchange of fire has displaced thousands of people on both sides of the border, pro-Iranian Hezbollah said Saturday that an all-out war with Israel would displace “hundreds of thousands” more Israelis.

Cross-border violence since early October has left 623 dead in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also at least 142 civilians, according to an AFP report. On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, authorities have announced the deaths of at least 24 soldiers and 26 civilians. In the Gaza Strip, where a war is pitting Israel against the Hamas movement, Israel regularly drops leaflets asking residents to evacuate a place that is due to be bombed.

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