“We anticipate the threat” –

“For those who have not yet understood, I want to clarify Israel’s policy: we do not wait for a threat, we anticipate it. Everywhere, in every theater, at any time.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this as the Jewish state’s fighter jets pound southern Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley. The IDF is working to “change the balance of power in the north,” destroying “thousands of missiles and rockets aimed at Israeli cities and citizens.” About 300 targets have reportedly been hit.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the intense Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon has risen to 182 and more than 700 injured. The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported. The previous toll was 100 dead and more than 400 injured. Videos of the raids were spread on social networks and verified by local newspapers. Images also relaunched by the Times of Israel show bombings between houses. Booms can be heard and columns of fire, earth and debris can be seen between the houses or a few meters away. This morning, the Israeli armed forces announced the start of “large-scale” raids against what are believed to be buildings or bases used by the Lebanese organization Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, with a message reminiscent of those with which the Israeli forces (IDF) have been asking Palestinians to evacuate some areas of the Gaza Strip for months in view of military operations against Hamas, an IDF spokesman, Avichay Adraee, is giving the residents of the Bekaa Valley two hours to leave the area, announcing imminent air raids targeting Hezbollah targets. “If you are inside or near a house where there are Hezbollah weapons – says a post in Arabic distributed via X, accompanied by a map – you must leave.” Flee “within two hours” of the warning, until you reach “a distance of no less than a thousand meters from the location or reach the central school closest to you and do not return until further notice.” Similar warnings also came from Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the IDF, who confirmed that Israel is “preparing to strike terrorist targets in the Bekaa Valley”, where “Hezbollah stores strategic weapons, in civilian buildings and uses the population as human shields, deliberately putting them in danger”. Hagari, reports the Times of Israel, warns “Lebanese residents in the Bekaa Valley localities”, those who are “near buildings or inside homes where there are missiles and weapons” and invites them to move away “immediately”. “Hezbollah – he accused – intends to launch these weapons against Israeli territory and we will not allow it”.