IDF says civilians in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley have 2 hours to leave homes used by Hezbollah to store weapons

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari issues a warning to civilians in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, calling on them to flee from homes where Hezbollah has been storing weapons.

“We are preparing to strike terror targets in the Beqaa Valley in the near future. Hezbollah stores strategic weapons there, in civilian buildings, and uses the population as a human shield and knowingly puts it in danger,” he says in a press conference.

“I am warning the Lebanese residents in the villages in the Beqaa Valley. This is a specific warning to the residents of the Beqaa Valley. Residents who are near buildings or inside homes where missiles and weapons are stored, distance yourselves from them immediately!” Hagari says.

He says the residents of the Beqaa Valley can “see the action we are taking in southern Lebanon” today. “Hezbollah intends to launch these weapons toward Israeli territory, and we will not allow it,” Hagari says.

On the strikes in southern Lebanon, which have so far targeted some 300 sites used by Hezbollah, Hagari says “every home” hit by the Israeli Air Force today was used by Hezbollah to store weapons.

“The sights that are now seen in southern Lebanon are Hezbollah’s weapons exploding inside houses. Every home we struck, there are rockets, drones, missiles, which were intended to kill Israeli civilians,” he says.

In an Arabic message to residents of Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, says civilians have two hours to leave before the military launches its airstrikes there.

“If you are inside or near a house containing Hezbollah weapons, you must leave… within two hours to a distance of no less than 1,000 meters outside the village, or go to the central school near you and do not return until further notice,” Adraee says on X.

#عاجل ‼️ تحذير عاجل لسكان قرى منطقة البقاع في لبنان

⭕️عمليات حزب الله تجبر جيش الدفاع الإسرائيلي للعمل ضد البنى التحتية الإرهابية في قراكم.

⭕️جيش الدفاع غير معني بالمساس بكم، فاذا تواجدتم داخل أو بالقرب من منزل يحتوي على أسلحة لحزب الله – عليكم الخروج منه والابتعاد عنه خلال… pic.twitter.com/4f3PRAqcjB

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) September 23, 2024