English Statement by IDF Spokesperson Regarding Strikes in Southern Lebanon

“A short while ago, the IDF identified the Hezbollah terrorist organization preparing to fire missiles and rockets toward Israeli territory. ‌‏In a self-defense act to remove these threats, the IDF is striking terror targets in Lebanon, from which Hezbollah was planning to launch their attacks on Israeli civilians.

‌‏This follows more than 6,700 rockets, missiles, and explosive UAVs fired by Hezbollah at Israeli families, homes, and communities since October 8th. Hezbollah will soon fire rockets, and possibly missiles and UAVs, towards Israeli territory. ‌‏We will shortly update the Home Front Command Defensive guidelines for those in Israel.

From right next to the homes of Lebanese civilians in the South of Lebanon, we can see that Hezbollah is preparing to launch an extensive attack on Israel, while endangering the Lebanese civilians. We warn the civilians located in the areas where Hezbollah is operating, to move out of harm's way immediately for their own safety. Hezbollah’s ongoing aggression risks dragging the people of Lebanon, the people of Israel- and the whole region- into a wider escalation.

Israel will not tolerate Hezbollah’s attacks on our civilians. We are operating in self defense from Hezbollah - and any other enemy that joins in their attacks against us and we are ready to do everything we need to defend the people of Israel."