IDF strikes underground Hezbollah drone factories in Beirut after evacuation warning

IDF strikes underground Hezbollah drone factories in Beirut after evacuation warning

Emanuel Fabian

The Israel Defense Forces carried out a series of strikes on several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday evening that it said were used by Hezbollah to manufacture drones, and in a separate instance, also issued evacuation warnings for two areas in a southern Lebanon town.

Ahead of the strikes, which began shortly after 10 p.m., the military said it had “identified that Hezbollah’s aerial unit (127) is working to produce many thousands of UAVs, under the guidance and funding of Iranian terror officials.”

This was happening, the military said, “despite the understandings between Israel and Lebanon” as laid out in a November ceasefire agreement that halted more than a year of fighting along Israel’s northern border.

It said that Hezbollah was working to expand its drone manufacturing process to prepare for a future war with Israel.

“This activity is a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon. The Hezbollah terror organization creates challenges for the Lebanese state and thus impairs the implementation of the understandings,” the IDF asserted.

As it generally does before strikes in Beirut, the military issued an evacuation warning for civilians in the vicinity of the targeted buildings

“You are located near facilities belonging to the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, said on X.

“For your safety and the safety of your families, you are required to evacuate these buildings immediately and move away from them at a distance of no less than 300 meters,” said Adraee.

The post was accompanied by maps showing the locations of the soon-to-be targeted buildings.

A video circulating on social media following the evacuation warning showed heavy traffic in Dahiyeh, Beirut, as thousands of people tried to hurriedly leave the area.

AFP photographers reported massive numbers of people trying to flee the area, and Lebanese media reported that it was nearly emptied of inhabitants and had been sealed off.

Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed ahead of the strikes that, along with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he had “instructed the IDF this evening to strike and destroy buildings used by the terrorist organization Hezbollah to manufacture and store drones in the heart of the Dahiyeh district of Beirut.”

“We will continue to enforce the terms of the ceasefire without any compromises, and we will not allow any party to make threats against the northern communities and all citizens of Israel,” said Katz.