PM urges Lebanese to flee: 'Israel's war is not with you'

Missile in the attic: IDF releases photos of Hezbollah munitions in Lebanese homes

Army shows long-range missile on a launcher in a family’s attic, notes secondary explosions after airstrikes; Gallant: Hezbollah’s arsenal being crushed, Nasrallah ‘alone at the top’

This undated image released by the IDF on September 23, 2024, purportedly show a Hezbollah missile system in the attic of a home in the southern Lebanon village of Houmine al-Tahta. (Israel Defense Forces)
This undated image released by the IDF on September 23, 2024, purportedly show a Hezbollah missile system in the attic of a home in the southern Lebanon village of Houmine al-Tahta. (Israel Defense Forces)

Israel on Monday published what it said was evidence of Hezbollah munitions being placed in homes, as it sought to pre-empt criticism of wide-ranging strikes that targeted residences across Lebanon and left hundreds in the country dead and over 1,200 injured.

Among the weapons Israel said had been siloed in Lebanese homes before being hit by air force sorties were cruise missiles, rockets with large warheads and drones. In one case, the Israel Defense Forces revealed pictures showing what it said was a long-range rocket mounted on a hydraulic launcher and sitting in the attic of a Lebanese family’s home.

“We are crushing what was built by Hezbollah for 20 years,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared during a visit to the IDF Operations Directorate’s command room, according to his office.

Israel carried out strikes on some 1,600 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon Monday, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said, with most of them aimed at weapons stored in homes.

These included “cruise missiles that can reach hundreds of kilometers, heavy rockets with a 1,000-kilogram warhead, medium-range rockets that reach a range of up to 200 kilometers, short-range rockets, and armed unmanned aerial vehicles.”

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi also commented on the strikes, calling the campaign “a proactive offensive operation.”

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi holds an assessment at the military’s underground command room at the IDF HQ in Tel Aviv, September 23, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

“We are taking [away] military infrastructure that Hezbollah built for 20 years. This is very significant,” Halevi said in a video distributed by the IDF, from an assessment at the military’s underground command room.

“We are striking targets, preparing the next stages… in the end, everything needs to be aimed at creating the conditions to return the [displaced] residents of the north to their homes,” he added.

The Monday evening statement followed repeated warnings from Israeli officials that Lebanese civilians should flee areas where Hezbollah weapons were hidden, sending tens of thousands into a panicked scramble for safety.

Pointing to the image showing a long-range missile perched on a hydraulic launch system in a brick-lined room, which he said was in the attic of a home in the southern Lebanon village of Houmine al-Tahta, Hagari said, “It is ready to launch from an opening in the roof. Under the attic, on the first floor, a Lebanese family lives, serving as a human shield.”

This undated image released by the IDF on September 23, 2024, purportedly show a Hezbollah missile system in the attic of a home in the southern Lebanon village of Houmine al-Tahta. (Israel Defense Forces)

“This is an immediate and real threat to Israeli civilians, and we have an obligation to remove it,” he said in a press conference, without revealing how the IDF obtained the pictures, whose authenticity could not be verified.

However, Israel said other footage of strikes on homes also served as proof of Hezbollah’s propensity for using homes as rocket armories.

In one video published by the army, a rocket could be seen jettisoning out from a billowing explosion following an airstrike, and immediately slamming into a nearby building.

“This is further proof that Hezbollah has turned southern Lebanon into a war zone,” Hagari said.

Similar types of secondary explosions were seen in other videos released by the IDF, as well as in footage of at least one strike on a building in southern Lebanon.

Israel has long accused Hezbollah of transforming entire communities in southern Lebanon into terror bases, with hidden rocket launchers and other infrastructure.

“For too long, Hezbollah has been using you as human shields,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded statement addressing the Lebanese people. “It placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garage. Those rockets and missiles are aimed directly at our cities, directly at our citizens.”

“Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes,” he said.

“To defend our people against Hezbollah strikes, we must take out these weapons.”

Lebanese health officials said at least 492 people were killed and some 1,645 injured Monday in the Israeli strikes, marking one of the deadliest days in recent history for the war-scarred country.

“Starting this morning, the IDF has warned you to get out of harm’s way,” said Netanyahu in the video statement, in which he told Lebanese citizens that “Israel’s war is not with you. It’s with Hezbollah.”

“I urge you – take this warning seriously. Don’t let Hezbollah endanger your lives and the lives of your loved ones. Don’t let Hezbollah endanger Lebanon.”

“Please, get out of harm’s way now,” Netanyahu continued. “Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes.”

Cars sit in traffic as they flee ongoing Israeli airstrikes, in Sidon, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

In the coastal city of Sidon, people seeking shelter streamed into schools that had no mattresses to sleep on yet. Many waited on sidewalks outside.

Fatima Chehab, who came with her three daughters from the area of Nabatieh, said her family had been displaced twice in quick succession.

“We first fled to stay with my brother in a nearby area, and then they bombed three places next to his house,” she said.

Some people waited for hours in gridlocked traffic to get to what they hoped would be safety.

Yahya Abu Ali, who fled with his family from the village of Doueir in Lebanon’s Nabatieh district, struck a defiant tone.

“Don’t think that an airplane or a missile will defeat us, or that a wounded person or a martyr on the ground will weaken us,” he said. “On the contrary, it gives us strength, determination, and resilience.”

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Zaita on September 23, 2024. (Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)

Hagari said the Lebanese death toll included “many terrorists we killed today who were near the weapons,” promising the IDF would publish its own figures at a later time.

Among those killed by Israel in recent days are several Hezbollah commanders, though the Iran-backed terror group denied that a strike on Beirut on Monday had managed to take out its top commander on the front with Israel, a shadowy figure named Ali Karaki.

“[Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah remains alone at the top, entire units of the Radwan Force were taken out of service, and tens of thousands of rockets were destroyed,” Gallant said Monday.

Israel had previously estimated that Hezbollah had some 150,000 rockets and missiles, including guided missiles and long-range projectiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel. Despite the Israeli sorties, the group has managed to fire at least 350 of the projectiles at Israel over the past day, many of them striking deep inside Israel.

“Challenging days are ahead,” Hagari cautioned Monday evening. “We continue to be focused on defense and attack on all fronts.”

The cabinet on Monday night voted by phone to approve a “special situation” on the home front, as Israel braced for Hezbollah to potentially escalate its cross-border attacks.

A “special situation” is a legal term used in times of emergency, granting authorities greater jurisdiction over the civilian population in order to streamline efforts to safeguard the population. It is valid for 48 hours unless extended by cabinet ministers.

No specific changes in IDF Home Front Command instructions were announced.

In central and southern Israel, school and work were scheduled to take place as normal on Tuesday.

An image grab taken from an AFPTV video taken on September 23, 2024, shows smoke billowing over the southern suburbs of Beirut after an Israeli strike.(Mohamad Al Ghandour/ AFPTV/ AFP)

Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.

Israel has repeatedly warned it can no longer tolerate Hezbollah’s presence along its border following the October 7 atrocities, and warned that should a diplomatic solution not be reached, it would turn to military action to push Hezbollah northward.

So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 22 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.

Hezbollah has named 506 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 83 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have also been killed.

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