Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon escalate in most widespread attack since Oct. 7

Explosions boomed across Lebanon on Monday as the Israeli army carried out its most widespread attacks on Lebanon in almost a year, killing at least 100 people and wounding more than 400, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

The back-and-forth airstrikes between Israel and Hezbollah escalated dramatically in the past week after pagers and walkie-talkies used by the militant group exploded throughout Lebanon, killing 37 and injuring more than 2,700, in an Israeli-linked attack. They fueled fears of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, which has fired increasingly on Israel in retaliation for Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.

Where did the most recent airstrikes hit?

Widespread airstrikes on Monday rained down from Lebanon’s southern border to the country’s north, near Syria. A Hezbollah-linked TV station reported Israeli warplanes struck towns near the eastern Bekaa Valley and northern Hermel. Video footage posted to social media showed thick plumes of smoke rising over bulidings.

The death toll reported by Lebanon’s health ministry rapidly climbed to at least 100 people. An additional 400 were wounded, the ministry said.

Israel’s military said it had struck more than 300 Hezbollah targets.

UNIFIL, the United Nations’ Lebanese peacekeeping force, ordered its employees to evacuate north of the Litani River, local media reported.

Did people receive warning calls?

As explosions sounded, people from southern Lebanon to Beirut received warning calls from Israel to immediately evacuate from any Hezbollah posts. A Beirut resident living near the Saudi embassy told Reuters they received a 30 to 40 second call on their landline.

“They were freaking out, I am freaking out as well because we thought somehow the area we live in is safe because we’re surrounded by ambassadors,” the person, who was not named, said.

Ziad Makary, Lebanon’s information minister , said on X that his ministry had received a warning call, deeming it “psychological warfare” and “intimidation.” The Ministry of Information refused to evacuate and was carrying on work as usual, Makary wrote.

The head of a Lebanese telecoms operator told Reuters on Monday that people across the country received more than 80,000 suspected Israeli calls ordering them to evacuate.

What did Israel say?

Israel Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel launched the strikes “following indications that Hezbollah was preparing to fire towards Israeli territory.”

The calls to Lebanese residents’ phones, Hagari said, were “an advance warning for your own safety and the safety of your family.”

“Hezbollah is endangering you and your families,” he said.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the airstrikes were targeting homes where “Hezbollah hid weapons.”

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, said in a video that Israel was “deepening” its attacks on Lebanon. “The actions will continue until we achieve our goal to return the northern residents safely to their homes,” he said.

Speaking to CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Hezbollah’s near-daily attacks on Israel since the start of the Israel-Hamas war had forced 100,000 Israelis from their homes.

Gallant said he had briefed U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on the latest strikes.

Austin “expressed his support for Israel’s right to defend itself… and stressed the importance of finding a path to a diplomatic solution,” Pentagon Press Secretary Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.

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How did Hezbollah respond?

Hezbollah said on Monday it had launched dozens of rockets towards Israeli military posts in retaliation.

called “for every possible effort to be made to stop this ongoing barbaric aggression and to protect the Lebanese people from its destructive consequences

Israel’s military said it identified approximately 35 projectiles crossing into Israeli territory from Lebanon. Sirens sounded throughout northern Israel, it said.

What led up to the airstrikes on Monday?

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah surged last week after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded throughout Lebanon for two days in a row in an attack believed to be Israel’s work. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.

In the past week, airstrikes have reached the farthest into both countries since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel last October triggered the largest escalation in the Israel-Hamas conflict in decades.

On Friday, an Israeli air strike in Beirut killed four senior Hezbollah commanders. Israel launched another volley of strikes on Sunday in response to at least 150 Hezbollah rockets, cruise missiles, and UAVs that struck the northern Israeli city of Haifa and the Jezreel Valley, forcing schools to shut down and hospitals to move patients to secured areas.

“Life has been shattered in our northern border. I don’t think any American would have accepted it as a kind of a status quo situation in the United States,” Herzog said.