IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari on Wednesday published a statement to foreign media, explaining why the IDF is operating in the Dahieh suburb of Beirut, Lebanon.
"One year ago today, the Hezbollah terrorist organization launched an unprovoked attack on Israel," Hagari began. "Since then, Hezbollah has fired more than 12,000 rockets, missiles and UAVs at Israel, forcing 60,000 Israeli civilians to evacuate from their homes, and hundreds of thousands more into bomb shelters on a daily basis."
"Hezbollah spent decades building up these stockpiles of weapons - including advanced, precision-guided missiles supplied by Iran - and deliberately manufactures and stores them deep inside civilian areas - including in homes - across Lebanon.
"These weapons pose a serious and immediate threat to Israeli civilians."
He continued, "We are operating to remove that threat, including in Dahieh - a key terrorist stronghold for Hezbollah. This is where its decisions are made, and it manufactures and hides its strategic weapons - inside and below civilian buildings in Dahieh."
"Dahieh is not like the rest of Beirut," he stressed, adding, "Many civilians who live in Dahieh evacuated, knowing that it is a Hezbollah terror base. They understood that Hezbollah was putting them in danger."
"But Hezbollah has closed off the Dahieh area. It controls who goes in and out.
"Despite this - prior to IDF aerial strikes on military targets in the area - we have been giving advance warnings to residents of specific buildings where Hezbollah has stored its weapons, asking them to evacuate and move out of harm’s way.
"We know - that by doing that we reduce the element of surprise, but when we say that our war is with Hezbollah, not with the people of Lebanon, we mean it."
Hagari explained, "We are sending out these warnings in Arabic announcements on social media and on other channels. We’re doing whatever we can to keep civilians out of harm's way."
"In recent weeks, we have conducted precise airstrikes on a number of significant Hezbollah terror targets in Dahieh. It was in Dahieh that we eliminated Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, while he was inside Hezbollah’s HQ under civilian building.
"It was in Dahieh that we destroyed a large stockpile of advanced surface-to-sea, precision-guided missiles with a range of hundreds of kilometers.
"It was in Dahieh that we destroyed Hezbollah weapons production facilities.
"And it was in Dahieh that we struck Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters, underneath civilian buildings."
He noted, "Every time we strike sites where missiles are stored, the whole world sees the secondary explosions. This is clear proof that Hezbollah is storing their weapons under the cover of Lebanese civilians."
"The Dahieh isn’t just another district in Beirut , it’s Hezbollah’s stronghold.
"The IDF is operating against Hezbollah with a clear goal: to remove the threats to Israeli civilians and enable all residents to return to their homes in Israel, in safety and security."