Netanyahu orders Israeli army to advance into Lebanon. Operations in “force against Hezbollah targets”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the defense minister ordered the army to “advance and occupy new high strategic positions” in Lebanon, where Israeli forces launched a wave of attacks against the Shiite militia Hezbollah in the context of the operation initiated against Iran, reports CNN.

The Defense Ministry said that Minister Israel Katz and Prime Minister Netanyahu called on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to “prevent fires and protect Israeli border communities.”

“The IDF operated overnight and continued to take control of the area,” the minister said, adding that “the IDF continues to act forcefully against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.”

A Lebanese army source has revealed that hundreds of soldiers from the border area have been “redeployed” further north following the Israeli incursion into southern Lebanon.

The source told CNN that Israeli troops had entered “hundreds of meters into Lebanese territory,” not kilometers, and that so far there had been no confrontation between Lebanese forces and them.

Dozens of people killed

At least 52 people were killed and 154 wounded in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, according to the toll presented by the Lebanese government on Monday.

The attacks on Lebanon were launched after Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite group, fired missiles at Israel from Lebanon.

The US has closed its embassy in Beirut, just hours after Israel announced it had begun striking Hezbollah targets in the city. Non-essential personnel had been instructed to leave Lebanon even before Operation Epic Fury was launched against Iran.

The diplomatic mission in Beirut is the third US embassy to close amid the Middle East conflict. The Saudi Arabian embassy closed after being hit by what are believed to be two Iranian drones, and the Kuwaiti embassy said it was closing indefinitely.