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JERUSALEM: The Israeli army urged residents of various areas of southern Lebanon to evacuate Thursday ahead of imminent air strikes on Hezbollah targets.
“The army will attack military infrastructure belonging to the terrorist Hezbollah in various areas of south Lebanon in the near term, in response to its prohibited attempts to rebuild its activities in the region,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee wrote on X.

Meanwhile, shortly after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for several buildings in the country’s south, Lebanese prime minister Nawaf Salam called for “maximum” pressure on Israel to stop its attacks.
“Lebanon calls on the international community, and particularly the countries that sponsored the ceasefire agreement, to exert maximum pressure on Israel to immediately halt its attacks,” Salam said amidst a cabinet meeting.
France and the United States are the main guarantors behind a November ceasefire that sought to end over a year of hostilities between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

ANKARA: Turkiye is closely monitoring Cyprus’ reported procurement of an Israeli air defense system, Turkish officials said Thursday, warning that the move could destabilize a “fragile balance” on the divided island.
Turkish defense ministry officials expressed concerns over reports suggesting that an Israeli-made Barak MX integrated air defense system had been delivered to Cyprus.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations, said Cyprus’ ongoing armament efforts would threaten peace and stability on the island and may lead to “dangerous consequences.”
The Mediterranean Island has been split along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkiye invaded in the wake of a coup that aimed to unify the island with Greece. Only Turkiye recognizes a 1983 Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence in the island’s northern third where Turkiye continues to maintain more than 35,000 troops.
The Israeli ground-based system is capable of simultaneously intercepting missiles, drones and aircraft from as far as 93 miles (150 kilometers) away. Its deployment would mark a significant upgrade to Cyprus’ defense shield, which had until recently only consisted of Soviet-era weapons, such as the BUK M1-2 missile system.
Cyprus’ defense minister, Vasilis Palmas, said in an interview with The Associated Press last year that bolstering the country’s defense capacity is critical for the island nation, which is located close to the war-torn Middle East.
Turkiye regards the deployment of the Israeli system as a security threat.
In 1997, Cyprus’ plans to deploy Russian-made S-300 air defense missiles triggered a standoff with Turkiye, which threatened military action. The tensions de-escalated after Cyprus agreed to transfer the missiles to Greece.
The defense officials said that Turkiye remains committed to safeguarding the security of the Turkish Cypriots, adding, without elaborating, that all kinds of measures were being taken to ensure their safety.