Israel has expanded the scope of the “red zone” in southern Lebanon to areas about 22 kilometers from the border in Tyre and Nabatieh, issuing successive evacuation warnings covering more than 20 towns.
The warnings triggered a new wave of displacement toward the city of Sidon, before Israel followed them with a series of intensive strikes that raised the human toll and widened the scale of destruction, while imposing a new field reality beyond the limits of the “yellow line.”
Successive warnings and geographic expansion
The Israeli army on Thursday issued a series of urgent warnings ordering residents of southern towns to evacuate immediately. The warnings came in two stages and included villages in Tyre and Nabatieh, reflecting a clear expansion of the area of operations.
The first warning included the towns of al-Samaaiyeh, al-Hinniyeh, al-Qlayleh, Wadi Jilo, al-Kaniseh, Kafra, Majdal Zoun and Siddiqin, before these areas were directly hit after the warning.
In a second warning, the Israeli army expanded the alerts to include Jebchit, Habboush, Harouf, Kfar Jouz, Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Abba, Adchit al-Shqif, Arab Salim, Toul, Houmine al-Fawqa, in Nabatieh district, as well as al-Majadel, Arzoun, Dounine, al-Hamiri and Maaroub, in Tyre district.
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee called on residents to move at least 1,000 meters away.
Southern Lebanese sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that an expanded “red zone” had emerged alongside the “yellow line,” stretching to the outskirts of Nabatieh across an area more than 35 kilometers wide and extending about 25 kilometers into Lebanese territory.
The zone includes dozens of villages now exposed to shelling or evacuation warnings, triggering large waves of displacement.
The road from the south toward Sidon and Beirut witnessed a new wave of displacement, especially from Nabatieh and its surroundings, after Adraee’s latest threat.
Strikes accompany warnings
The warnings were accompanied by direct strikes, with raids targeting several of the towns included in them. A drone also struck a motorcycle in the town of al-Shahabiyeh, killing two people and wounding one, while warplanes raided the Al Hamza neighborhood between Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Kfar Rumman.
Israeli forces carried out a dawn explosion in the town of Khiam, as raids continued on several areas, including Toulin and al-Jmayjmeh. Shelling also hit Safad al-Batikh, Zebqine, Jabal al-Batm, Qabrikha and Khirbet Selm.
In Bint Jbeil, explosions hit homes and infrastructure in the Khallet al-Mashta area, while a raid destroyed a heritage house in Nabatieh al-Fawqa that was more than 100 years old. A strike on Batouliyeh also destroyed the water station, halting water pumping to residents.
High human toll
Figures showed that 42 people were killed in 24 hours, raising the number of casualties since March 2 to 2,576 dead and 7,962 wounded.
In a detailed toll, the Health Emergency Operations Center said nine people were killed, including two children and five women, and 23 were wounded, including eight children and seven women.
Seven people were also killed in a raid that targeted the town of Zebdine, as strikes continued on villages in Nabatieh.
Civil defense teams resumed search operations in the town of Jouaya for missing people after retrieving five bodies, while a house in al-Hinniyeh collapsed on its residents amid difficulties for rescue teams trying to reach the site.
Israeli warplanes also broke the sound barrier over the Bekaa region, causing a loud boom in the afternoon.
Drone escalation on both sides
Hezbollah, meanwhile, said it targeted four Merkava tanks in Bint Jbeil and Qantara with attack drones, saying they scored direct hits. It also said it targeted artillery south of the town of Yarine.
The group said it downed an Israeli Hermes 450 drone with a surface-to-air missile over Nabatieh airspace, which the Israeli army acknowledged.
The Israeli army said 12 soldiers were wounded after a military vehicle was targeted by an attack drone in Shomera. It said it had carried out operations against Hezbollah members and dismantled rocket-launching sites.
No real ceasefire
On the ground, Israeli army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said during a tour near Taybeh that Israeli forces would remain positioned at the “yellow line” and would not withdraw before ensuring the security of northern settlements.
He stressed that “there is no ceasefire on the fighting front.”
Israel’s public broadcaster reported a discussion between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which Trump called for more caution in operations inside Lebanon, warning that targeting buildings harms Israel’s image internationally.
It pointed to efforts to prevent the collapse of the ceasefire over the next two weeks, while Israel requested a time frame for negotiations until mid-May, considering that Hezbollah is the problem, and ending Iran’s influence could open the door to Lebanon’s stability.
