Israel has announced that it has started bombing in areas around Tyre after ordering the forced displacement of one of Lebanon’s largest cities and nearby villages.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Israeli army said it was attacking a Hezbollah headquarters in the Tyre region, without specifying the location. The announcement came about two hours after Israel issued a warning to residents of Tyre and surrounding areas of impending military activity.

A map attached to the announcement showed areas residents must leave, including most of the city of Tyre, which sits on the Mediterranean coast close to the border with Israel.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that all areas south of Lebanon’s Zahrani River, which runs roughly 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of the Israel-Lebanon border, were considered “combat zones” and urged residents to head north.

“In light of the repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement by the terrorist organisation Hezbollah, the IDF will act against it with great force,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on social media. “We advise the residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate to the north of the Zahrani River, as all areas south of the river are considered combat zones.”

The warning and subsequent bombing came after the Lebanese army said that one of its soldiers was killed near his post in Bekaa in eastern Lebanon and it ⁠had retrieved his body. Two more people were killed in the town of Deir Amas in the Tyre district, Lebanese media reported.

Israeli air strikes also targeted the town of Braiqaa in the south, destroying two homes, the National News Agency reported, and the town of Deir Qanoun en-Nahr, Srifa and Toura as millions of people observed the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Meanwhile, in the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, just beyond the “Yellow Line”, which stretches roughly 10km (6 miles) north of the Lebanon-Israel border, Hezbollah said its fighters “clashed with the enemy forces at point-blank range”.

In Israel, the military said it identified the impacts of “several explosive drones” in the northern part of the country.

The violence comes a day after Israeli attacks intensified across southern and eastern Lebanon, killing at least 31 people and injuring 40, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said.

“Massive Israeli strikes pounded eastern Lebanon, hitting Machgharah in the western Bekaa, and another strike farther north targeting the strategic Qaraoun Dam,” Global News Insight’s Obaida Hitto reported from Tyre, elaborating on Tuesday’s attacks in eastern Lebanon.

“More deadly strikes followed an evacuation order covering Nabatieh city.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late on Tuesday that a large Israeli ground force was pushing deep into southern Lebanon to seize areas and to “fortify” what he described as a “security zone” in the neighbouring country.

Over a period of about 10 hours on Tuesday, the Israeli military also issued forced displacement orders for dozens of Lebanese towns and villages in the south and east as well as the entire city of Nabatieh.

The orders to flee in advance of Israeli attacks also warned residents of the targeted areas to “move north of the Zahrani River”, which is located about 40km (25 miles) from Lebanon’s border with Israel.

Hezbollah attacks

Meanwhile, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for 32 operations on Tuesday, targeting Israeli soldiers operating within southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese group said its fighters engaged in direct clashes and launched rocket, artillery and drone attacks to confront an Israeli military advance, particularly focusing on Zawtar al-Sharqiya.

It said the attacks targeted multiple Merkava tanks, armoured vehicles, communication systems and an Iron Dome platform and downed two Israeli quadcopters.

According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry on Tuesday, at least 3,213 people have been killed and 9,737 wounded in Israeli attacks since fighting escalated on March 2.

Lebanon was drawn into the United States-Israel war on Iran that day after Tehran-aligned Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel.

The group said the attacks were in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war, February 28, as well as Israel’s near-daily violations of a ceasefire it agreed to in Lebanon in November 2024. Although yet another ceasefire followed in April, Israeli attacks have continued.