Some 300,000 Lebanese Shi’ites evacuate as IDF pummels Hezbollah with over 250 strikes

The IDF said that Hezbollah will be substantially harmed by losing access to Iranian funds, which were almost its sole source of support since the war started.

Three hundred thousand mostly Shi’ite Lebanese supporters of Hezbollah have been evacuated from at least 50 villages in southern Lebanon due to IDF counterattacks following Hezbollah firing rockets on Israel on Monday.

The IDF has said that this is creating tremendous pressure on Hezbollah since it is a large part of its constituency, most of whom still have not received reparations for homes they lost during the 2023-2024 conflict between the Lebanese terror group and Israel.

They have been evacuated as the IDF has launched 250 attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon since Monday, around 100 on Tuesday alone.

While the volume of attacks remains far below the 1,300 attacks in a single day the IDF achieved in September 2024, it is far above the volume of much more limited attacks the IDF has undertaken since the November 2024 Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire.

Typically, since the ceasefire, the IDF would only launch a few attacks each week, mainly at limited low-level targets in southern Lebanon or elsewhere in Lebanon where not too many Hezbollah operatives would be killed and where top Hezbollah officials were not targeted.

IDF kills several top Hezbollah officials

In contrast, the IDF has killed several top Hezbollah officials since Monday and has made it clear that Hezbollah’s chief since fall 2024, Naim Qassem (who replaced Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine in fall 2024 after they were both assassinated) in in their crosshairs.

To date, Hezbollah has not killed a single Israeli and has caused minimal damage.

Hezbollah’s main attack was overnight between Sunday and Monday, firing rockets on the northern border towns and as far down as the Haifa area.

Since then, Hezbollah has launched many more sporadic rocket and drone attacks.

The IDF said that at 8:08 p.m. on Tuesday night, it had destroyed the Hezbollah rocket launcher that fired on Haifa.

On Tuesday, the IDF announced that it had slightly expanded its security zone in southern Lebanon, adding to the five positions that it has held there since the November 2024 ceasefire.

However, the IDF Northern Command said that it was unlikely to initiate a larger ground invasion into Lebanon until the situation with Iran was calmer, if at all.

There had been no change on that front by Wednesday morning.

Overall, the IDF message was its expansion in southern Lebanon was to deter any imminent potential invasion ideas from Hezbollah, and not yet to invade large scale as it did in September 2024.

According to the IDF, Hezbollah could fall apart without Iranian training and guidance, which they will have less of now that Iran’s regime itself is fighting for survival.

In addition, the IDF said that Hezbollah will be substantially harmed by losing access to Iranian funds, which were almost its sole source of support since the war started, which will also harm its Shi’ite constituency.

Collectively, the military said that all of these factors could finally lead to the Lebanese military disarming Hezbollah, though the organization still has power sources, so this remains an unpredictable question.

To date, Hezbollah has not used its arsenal of thousands or more rockets, said the IDF.

Further, the IDF credited the Lebanese military for having tried to stop Hezbollah from going south toward Israel.

Moreover, the IDF said that most of Hezbollah’s 2,000 Radwan commandos did not travel south toward Israel, but stayed in Beirut for safety. Only a small number of Radwan made it south, the IDF said.