Israeli officials later clarified that they intended to strike Hezbollah without triggering a full-scale conflict, according to a radio station operated by the Israeli military.
“We want to hurt Hezbollah, but without being dragged into a wide regional war,” the officials were quoted as saying.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said on Sunday that pro-Iran groups and Hezbollah-affiliated fighters had “evacuated their positions” south of the capital and in the Damascus countryside, as well as in parts of the Syrian-controlled Golan Heights, in anticipation of “potential Israeli air strikes”.
Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines said on Sunday it had delayed the departures of some incoming flights set to land in Beirut overnight, rescheduling to arrive on Monday morning instead.
Six flights arriving to Beirut overnight from London, Copenhagen and four other cities in the Middle East would be delayed so that they would instead take off on Monday morning.
A low-intensity border war has raged since October, and around 200,000 civilians have been displaced from northern Israel and southern Lebanon.