Senior Israeli officials say that Hezbollah has recently shifted its tactics along Israel’s northern border, aiming to force the evacuation of residents from northern Israel, i24NEWS reported.

Northern Command officials have noted that Hezbollah has been focusing its fire on population centers near the border and on previously evacuated communities, while also attacking IDF positions in southern Lebanon.

According to three officials familiar with the details, Hezbollah’s goal is to force Israel to again evacuate the residents of the north. The terror group viewed the previous evacuation after October 7 as a significant achievement and is now attempting to force a renewed evacuation as direct retribution for Israel’s mass evacuations from Beirut’s Dahiyeh district.

The new strategy has been reflected in an intense psychological campaign over the past few days, with Hezbollah distributing “evacuation notices” to residents of Nahariya, Kiryat Shmona, and other communities along the border.

Israel, however, is standing by its decision not to evacuate residents. Security officials say that “the infiltration threat posed by Hezbollah’s Radwan Force does not exist in the form the organization originally planned, and therefore there is no reason to evacuate civilians.”

Meanwhile, anti-tank missile incidents along the border have increased, as well as attempts by Hezbollah terrorist squads to approach the first and second lines of villages near the border, leading to casualties among IDF troops.

For now, the IDF is reinforcing forces in the security zone to create what officials describe as an effective “buffer area” between the border and nearby communities.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)