Israel claims Hezbollah is using ambulances for military purposes, warns Lebanese residents to avoid southern regions
The Israeli army threatened Saturday to target ambulances in southern Lebanon, claiming they are being misused by Hezbollah to “transport fighters and weapons.”
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee alleged that intelligence has revealed “Hezbollah elements are using ambulances to transport fighters and arms.” He warned that any vehicle found to be carrying fighters would be at risk, stating, “The Israeli army will take the necessary measures against any vehicle carrying armed elements, whether it is an ambulance or otherwise.”
Adraee also issued a direct warning to residents in southern Lebanon, instructing them to avoid their homes and refrain from traveling south. “The Israeli army continues to target Hezbollah positions in or near your villages. It is forbidden for you to return home until further notice,” the statement read, emphasizing that movement southward would “risk their lives.”
The Israeli army has previously targeted ambulances in Gaza, asserting that Hamas was using them to transport fighters and weapons. The same justification is now being applied in southern Lebanon as Israel escalates its campaign against Hezbollah targets.
Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 1,411 people, injuring over 3,970 others, and displacing more than 1.34 million people.
The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed nearly 42,200 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.
Despite international warnings that the Mideast was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel's relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, it expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 by launching a ground incursion into southern Lebanon.
*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara
