Israel expands combat zone in southern Lebanon and orders evacuations
Israel has declared a new combat zone in southern Lebanon and ordered residents to leave areas south of the Zahrani River. The order, issued on Wednesday, tells civilians to move north of the river as strikes continue to intensify. It marks a further widening of Israel's military campaign in Lebanon despite a ceasefire announced on 16 April.
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The Israeli military said all areas south of the Zahrani River should now be treated as a combat zone. In a statement posted on X, a military spokesperson warned that residents should evacuate north of the river and said the army would act "with great force" against Hezbollah in the area. The Zahrani River lies about 40 kilometres north of the Israeli border, and the territory south of it covers about 2,000 square kilometres.
The escalation follows more than 120 strikes on Tuesday that hit Lebanon's south and east, according to the supplied report. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel needed to take further action in Lebanon to protect communities in northern Israel from Hezbollah. The military has previously ordered people below the Litani River to leave, and it has already issued individual evacuation orders and carried out strikes in several dozen towns between the Litani and Zahrani rivers.
The latest order is significant because it extends evacuation warnings across an entire zone rather than to selected towns. It also comes as Israeli officials seek to pressure Hezbollah while avoiding actions in Beirut that could complicate US-led diplomacy with Iran. The timing is also notable because the statement was issued while Muslims across Lebanon were celebrating Eid al-Adha, adding to the disruption for civilians already affected by the fighting.
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The report says Lebanese security sources saw people fleeing north towards the port city of Sidon, which is already hosting thousands displaced from other parts of southern Lebanon. It also says more than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced by Israeli strikes and evacuation orders since 2 March, when Hezbollah fired at Israel in support of Palestinians in Gaza. That wider pattern shows how the conflict has moved beyond isolated border exchanges into repeated displacement and pressure on communities across southern Lebanon.
What remains unclear is how far Israel intends to extend the campaign south of the Zahrani River and whether the evacuation order will be followed by further strikes on towns in the zone. It is also not clear how many people are directly affected by the latest warning, beyond the reported movement towards Sidon. The next developments to watch are any further Israeli military statements, Lebanese responses, and whether the ceasefire framework announced on 16 April can still hold under the current escalation.
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