The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday that around 90% of Hezbollah's rocket launch sites it attacked on Sunday to preempt a planned large-scale assault on Israel were located close to civilian areas in southern Lebanon.

"Early Sunday morning, following the detection of preparations by Hezbollah to launch missiles and rockets aimed toward the north and the center of the State of Israel, the IDF struck Hezbollah targets that posed an immediate threat," IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari wrote on X.

Hezbollah put "its terrorist infrastructure in the middle of the civilian population while using Lebanese civilians as human shields. 90% of the launches were from the heart of a civilian area, near civilian facilities such as mosques, schools, UN sites, etc," he added.

Hagari attached several pictures showing the close proximity of some of Hezbollah's rocket launchers to civilian buildings. For example, in the area of Hanniyeh, a launcher was located only some 150 meters from a U.N. building.

In Tallouseh, around a dozen launchers were placed between a school and a mosque, at a distance of only 150-160 meters.

"We warn the civilians located in the areas where Hezbollah is operating to move out of harm's way immediately for their own safety," Hagari said.

Footage from the Israeli strikes on Sunday showed massive secondary explosions caused by igniting ammunition, and rockets primed for launch flying off in unpredictable directions amid the blasts.

This underlines the immediate danger to the Lebanese civilians living in the vicinity of Hezbollah's military sites which dot the southern Lebanese landscape.

In broad waves of airstrikes using around 100 fighter jets, the IDF said it simultaneously hit 270 individual targets comprising thousands of rocket launcher barrels, at around 40 sites in Lebanon.

"About 90% of the targets that were attacked were short-range rockets and launchers directed towards the north of the country. Also, at least six terrorists were eliminated," Hagari said.

Despite the Israeli operation, "Hezbollah launched about 230 rockets and over 20 unmanned aerial vehicles. Most of them fell on their way to Israeli territory, in open areas or were intercepted by the defense systems of the Air Force and Navy ships."

Republished with permission from All Israel News