Israel army tells Lebanese to 'move away' from Hezbollah sites

"The IDF (military) will engage in (more) extensive and precise strikes against terror targets which have been embedded widely throughout Lebanon."

Hagari said the military had launched new strikes against Hezbollah sites since Monday morning.

"The strikes will go on for the near future," he said.

In a separate briefing to journalists, a military official emphasised that the appeal made to Lebanese people was the first of its kind.

"This the first time that we do this kind of warning in that way," said the official, who cannot be further identified under military rules.

"If you are in a house where there is a rocket or a cruise missile, get out immediately," the official said, adding that the military was "monitoring from the air" to gauge compliance.

"We are giving them an advance warning. Get out of the house. We are aiming only on the capabilities of the rockets, on the missiles, launchers, etc," he said.

The official also said the Israeli military was currently only focused on an "aerial campaign".

The first goal of the operation, he said, was to "degrade threats" from Hezbollah, while the second was to push Hezbollah back from the border and the third was to destroy infrastructure built near the border by Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force.

He said Israel's "pre-emptive" strikes had already hindered Hezbollah's ability to fire rockets.

"We've been doing it for already a long time, but we are doing it extensively in the last couple of days and also yesterday, and that's one of the reasons that the numbers (of rockets fired) are down," he added.