The Israeli army said on Monday that heavy airstrikes hit more than 300 Hezbollah positions, and residents in southern Lebanon have reportedly received text messages warning them to stay away from buildings where the terrorist group stores weapons.
The attack came in retaliation for Hezbollah firing some 150 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel on Sunday after an Israeli military operation killed several of its top commanders.
“If you are inside a building storing Hezbollah weapons, please leave your village until further notice,” an Arabic-language text message being received by Lebanese residents said, according to local media reports cited by The Associated Press.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry has asked hospitals in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley to postpone surgeries that could be performed at a later date, to ensure hospitals are prepared to treat those injured by “the escalation of Israel’s aggression in Lebanon,” the ministry said in a statement.
Hezbollah fires rockets at Israel: ‘An endless battle’
Israeli fighter jets are seen from Haifa in northern Israel on Monday, as smoke rises from Israeli artillery shelling villages in southern Lebanon on the right.
The Lebanese state news agency reported that Monday’s Israeli attack struck a wooded area in the central province of Byblos, about 81 miles north of the Israel-Lebanon border, the first since fighting between the two countries began in October. There were no reports of injuries, according to the Associated Press.
Israel also bombed targets in the northeastern regions of Baalbek and Hermel, killing a shepherd and wounding two members of his family, according to the Israeli state news agency, which said a total of 30 people were wounded in airstrikes.
The Israel Defense Forces said on Monday that “more than 300 Hezbollah targets have been struck to date” and that they are “currently conducting major attacks against terrorist targets of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon.”
“I repeat: Israel does not seek war. But we have the right and the duty to defend our people,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote on X, sharing a video purporting to show Hezbollah storing and firing missiles at civilian areas and homes.
UN Secretary-General defends UNRWA, says only ‘small groups’ were involved in October 7 attack


Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on the village of Taybeh, as seen from the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, Monday, September 23. (AP/Hussein Marra)
“Thousands of long-range rockets are stored in homes, living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens and fired with the sole purpose of killing people. Would you accept this in your home or your neighbor’s home?,” Herzog asked. “What country would accept its people living under this threat from a neighboring country?”
Tensions between Israeli forces and Hezbollah have risen recently, with Lebanon still recovering from a series of explosions last Tuesday and Wednesday that struck pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members. At least 37 people were killed and around 3,000 were injured, according to local authorities. The attacks have been widely blamed on Israel, which has neither claimed nor denied responsibility.
Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem said Sunday’s rocket attacks on Israel were just the beginning of what is now an “endless battle.”


Hezbollah supporters hold up pictures of Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Akil at his funeral procession in Beirut, Lebanon, on Sunday, September 22. Akil was killed in an airstrike targeting Lebanon last week. (AP/Bilal Hussein)
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Hezbollah first launched artillery fire towards Israel the day after the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack, which it said was an attempt to stall Israeli forces supporting Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Fox News’ Yael Rotem Kriel and Bradford Betts and The Associated Press contributed to this report.