Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has denounced Israeli strikes deep into his country as a “destructive plan” aimed at exterminating the Lebanese people.
The IDF hit over 300 Hezbollah targets during two major rounds of strikes against Hezbollah on Monday.
These waves of air strikes constituted the fifth and sixth round of massive air strikes on Hezbollah since Thursday of last week, especially in southern Lebanon, including further from the border than in some prior cases.
“The continuing Israeli aggression on Lebanon is a war of extermination in every sense of the word and a destructive plan that aims to destroy Lebanese villages and towns,” Mikati told a cabinet meeting.
He reportedly urged the UN to “deter Israeli aggression.”
Before the strikes, the IDF sent out text messages to the southern Lebanese citizens urging them to stay away from Hezbollah structures, Israeli media reported.
“If you are in a building containing Hezbollah weapons, move away immediately until further notice,” the text message sent to the civilians reportedly read.
During Hagari’s address before the second wave of IDF attacks, he explained, “We are exposing Hezbollah’s tactic of hiding a cruise missile inside a residential home. The terrorists created a designated opening to launch the missile.”
According to Ynet, ten years ago, Hezbollah launched a secret initiative to offer financial incentives to Shia households in southern Lebanon if they allocated a room of their house to a long range missile launcher. The missile, with a heavy warhead, would be ready to launch from that room. The room would have a removable roof, allowing it to be fired quickly.
Ynet added that Hezbollah specifically chose poor Shia families who needed extra income. Reportedly, Hezbollah purchased plots of land and constructed residential homes on them, offering them at a reduced price of for free if the families were willing to store missiles.