The Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Northern Arrows on Monday with a day-long assault on Hezbollah weapons caches in southern Israel.
Israeli fighter pilots and other forces destroyed more than 1,300 Hezbollah targets in the first day of the operation, including sites in southern and eastern Lebanon, the Beka’a Valley and Ba’albek, further north.
IDF artillery and tanks struck terrorist targets in the areas of Ayta ash Shab and Ramiyeh in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese Health Ministry reported late Monday night that the death toll from the day’s operations had reached 492, with 1,645 others wounded, but did not specify how many of those casualties were members of the country’s Iranian proxy, Hezbollah.
Prior to the start of the mission, the IDF made tens of thousands of phone calls and sent tens of thousands of text messages to Lebanese citizens in the combat zone, urging them to evacuate for their own safety. IDF Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Adraee likewise posted multiple video and text messages on the X social media platform, warning Lebanese non-combatants to relocate ahead of the impending attacks.
Israel Warns Lebanese Civilians to Flee Hezbollah Combat Zone
Residents of the Beka’a Valley were given a two-hour window within which to leave before Israeli forces bombed sites — including private homes — where huge Hezbollah missiles were hidden, but set up on hydraulic lifts and ready to fire at a moment’s notice.
IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters in a late-night briefing Monday night that many of the targets were weapons stored in homes, including “cruise missiles that can reach hundreds of kilometers, heavy rockets with a 1,000-kilogram warhead, medium-range rockets that reach a range of up to 200 km, short-range rockets, and armed unmanned aerial vehicles.”
