Israel's military began carrying out fresh strikes against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon on Monday after reportedly identifying that the Iran-backed group was preparing to attack Israel, the military spokesperson said.
Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that Hezbollah over the years has stashed weapons, including cruise missiles, in houses and buildings throughout southern Lebanon, and called on residents to stay away from these sites.
Hagari presented in a media briefing an aerial video of what he described as Hezbollah operatives trying to launch cruise missiles from a civilian house in Lebanon, and the subsequent Israeli strike moments before it was launched.
"Hezbollah is endangering you. Endangering you and your families," Hagari said.
Asked by reporters about a possible Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon, Hagari said "we will do whatever is needed" in order to return evacuated residents of northern Israel to their homes safely.
Since thousands of pagers and handheld radios were detonated across Lebanon this week, Israel and Lebanon have intensified their exchange of projectiles. Israel reportedly launched around 400 rockets into southern Lebanon.
Russia, Ukraine swap 307 soldiers on second day of POW exchange
Police probe arson attack in France power outage
Ukraine says 15 people hurt in 'massive' Russian attack on capital
South Africa rescues all 260 miners stuck underground alive
