Unsanctioned Israeli leaflets order Lebanon residents to evacuate

Leaflets dropped on a Lebanon border village urging residents to leave were unsanctioned, the Israeli military has said.

The leaflets, which were released on Sunday, were the first evacuation order that residents of south Lebanon have received amid 11 months of cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israel, sparked by the war on Gaza.

However, Israel’s military told the AFP news agency that a brigade had taken the initiative to drop them without approval.

“The Israeli enemy dropped leaflets over Wazzani calling on those in the area and its surroundings to evacuate,” Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

The leaflet in Arabic said: “To all residents and refugees living in the area of the camps, Hezbollah is firing from your region. You must immediately leave your homes and head north of the Khiam region before 4pm (13:00 GMT). Do not return to this area until the end of the war.”

“Anyone present in this area after this time will be considered a terrorist,” it added.

The Israeli military said the release of the leaflets was an unauthorised action by a unit that had not sought appropriate approval, and that no evacuation was under way.

Wazzani is in an agricultural region where Syrian refugees are often hired to work the land.

“Some of the Syrian workers are leaving the area … But as for us, we are farmers and we have livestock. We cannot leave our land,” Wazzani’s Mayor Ahmed al-Mohammed said.

Tens of thousands of civilians have already fled villages and towns on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon frontier during months of cross-border strikes.