Israel Orders Evacuations in Southern Lebanon and Strikes Hezbollah Targets

The Israeli army issued forced displacement orders for nine towns and villages in southern Lebanon on Saturday, warning residents that forthcoming attacks would make their presence life-threatening. The military posted the order on X, naming the areas of Tayr Debba, al-Abbasiyeh, Burj Rahhal, Maroub, Barish, Arzun, Jennata in the Tyre area, az-Zrariyeh and Ain Baal.

It said anyone remaining would expose their life to danger as operations were set to begin forcefully.

The orders came as the Israeli military reported striking more than 85 Hezbollah infrastructure sites across southern Lebanon in the past 24 hours. Targets included weapons storage facilities, production sites, rocket launchers and buildings used for military purposes.

Hezbollah had fired rockets toward Israeli forces operating in the area, though the projectiles landed nearby with no injuries reported.

An Israeli drone struck a motorcycle in the town of Al-Nabatieh al-Fawqa, while artillery shelled the outskirts of Kfar Tibnit, Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Harouf, according to on-the-ground reporting by Al Jazeera Arabic. The escalation in southern Lebanon occurs against the backdrop of a US-brokered ceasefire between Washington and Tehran that has held officially despite reported skirmishes in the Strait of Hormuz.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that a formal Iranian response to a US proposal aimed at ending the conflict was expected soon and could advance diplomatic efforts. Iranian officials said they were reviewing the proposal at their own pace and that American deadlines carried no weight.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters the text was highly technical and required consensus across multiple Iranian institutions, including parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the IRGC and the National Supreme Security Council, with final approval from the supreme leader.

Iran has outlined three main sticking points in the negotiations: guarantees that any deal encompass its allies including Hezbollah, a United Nations Security Council assurance against renewal of hostilities, and acceptance of its continued role in the Strait of Hormuz rather than a return to pre-war conditions.

Iran also refuses to dismantle nuclear facilities or ship out enriched uranium. Russia urged the US and Bahrain to withdraw a draft UN Security Council resolution calling on Iran to end its blockade of the strait.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov told Izvestia that Moscow instead supported a Russian-Chinese draft focused on ending the war and resolving differences at the negotiating table. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the strait situation with his UAE counterpart, emphasizing support for US-Iran talks. The conflict has produced wider effects.

At least 11 seafarers have been killed and roughly 20,000 remain stranded in the Gulf since the strait’s effective closure on February 28, according to maritime charities. Seafarers report seeing drones and missiles, with some crews experiencing direct hits on their vessels.

China’s aluminium exports rose 15 percent in April from a year earlier as global supply chains faced disruption from the closed strait.

Year-to-date shipments reached 2.05 million tonnes, with factories accelerating output to meet stockpiling demand. >"They thought: ‘We were going to die’. They see drones flying, they see missiles flying, and then we see instances where the ships get hit.

" — Gavin Lim, Sailors’ Society, May 9 2026 (Al Jazeera) In parallel developments in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers carried out assaults on Palestinians in multiple locations including Beit Fajjar, Silted, Khirbet Shuweika and Tuqu, with some incidents resulting in injuries requiring hospitalization.

Israeli forces conducted raids and detentions in several towns. The US Treasury announced new sanctions on 10 individuals and companies, including entities based in China, Dubai, Hong Kong and Belarus, for assisting Iran’s procurement of components for Shahed attack drones.