Israeli forces intensified operations across southern Lebanon on Friday as the military issued new evacuation warnings, carried out airstrikes and artillery shelling, and announced further actions targeting Hezbollah positions and infrastructure.

An Israeli official told Yedioth Ahronoth that more than 2,250 Hezbollah members have been killed since March 2.

The escalation came as the Israeli military issued urgent evacuation warnings to residents of several southern Lebanese villages ahead of planned strikes targeting Hezbollah positions.

Residents of Nmeiriyeh, Tayr Falsayh, Hallousiyeh, Hallousiyeh al-Fawqa, Touwairi and Maarakeh were instructed to evacuate and move at least one kilometer away from the targeted areas.

“In light of Hezbollah’s violations of the ceasefire agreement, the Israeli army is forced to act against it with force and does not intend to harm you,” Israeli army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee said in the warning.

The Israeli military also issued evacuation orders for residents of Abbassiyeh, prompting the municipality to call on residents to relocate immediately to a temporary shelter set up at Abbassiyeh Secondary School.

In a statement, the municipality urged “all residents to head immediately to the temporary displacement center at the Abbassiyeh Secondary School in order to preserve public safety under the current circumstances.”

It also stressed “the need to comply with instructions and cooperate with the concerned teams in order to facilitate the evacuation and organization process inside the shelter center.”

On the ground, Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Mansouri and the Bayout al-Sayyad area, extending toward the Mansouri-Hamra coastline from Israeli army positions in the Bayyada hills south of Tyre.

Israeli warplanes also carried out an early morning strike on a house in the Hjazieh neighborhood of Nmeiriyeh, destroying the building.

Earlier at dawn, an Israeli force backed by military vehicles attempted to advance toward the Bayout al-Sayyad area opposite the town of Bayyada, where Israeli troops are positioned. The move coincided with heavy artillery shelling around Bayout al-Sayyad, Mansouri and Majdal Zoun, while Israeli helicopters conducted sweeping fire operations in the area.

An Israeli drone strike also targeted a vehicle on the road between Kfarchouba and Kfar Hammam, killing one person.

In a related development, Lebanon’s General Directorate of Civil Defense announced the death of firefighter Hafez Ali Yahya, a volunteer member of the Rashaya al-Foukhar center in the Nabatieh regional district.

According to the statement, Yahya was killed on May 8 in an Israeli strike targeting him on the Rashaya al-Foukhar-Kfarchouba road.

Rescue efforts continued across southern Lebanon amid ongoing strikes. A Lebanese Red Cross team from the Nabatiyeh center, working in coordination with the Lebanese army, evacuated a group of civilians trapped by airstrikes in Mifadoun after they ran out of supplies.

The evacuees, most of them members of the Ayash family, included two Bangladeshi workers who had been at their workplace at the time of the strikes. One wounded civilian was transferred to a hospital in Sidon.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Red Cross ambulances escorted by the Lebanese army, and operating with approval from the “Mechanism Committee,” headed to Blat in the Marjayoun district, where two wounded residents remained trapped beneath the rubble of their home following Israeli strikes since Thursday. Rescue teams also evacuated another resident from the area.

On Thursday evening, the Israeli military carried out what was described as a warning strike near Lebanese Red Cross and army rescue teams as they were heading toward Zebqine, southeast of Tyre, to retrieve bodies and wounded people following an earlier strike. The incident forced the teams to withdraw.

In Khiyam, Israeli forces carried out a powerful explosion inside the town, while the National News Agency correspondent in Jezzine reported Israeli airstrikes on the Sajd Heights.

Separately, Israeli police said a Hezbollah drone was discovered Friday morning on the roof of a school in the northern Israeli city of Nahariya during routine maintenance work.

Authorities said it was not immediately clear when the drone had crashed at the site. Police evacuated the school, while bomb disposal units worked to neutralize and remove the drone safely.

The Israeli military also announced that troops from the 146th Division recently destroyed a 30-meter Hezbollah tunnel in the Labbouneh area of southern Lebanon within what Israel describes as a security zone under its control.

According to the military, troops additionally seized a cache of weapons at a Hezbollah command center. The army also released footage showing a first-person-view drone strike targeting what it said was a Hezbollah operative attempting to flee on a motorcycle.