Israel heavily bombed Beirut's southern suburbs with airstrikes today, escalating a war with Hezbollah that has forced hundreds of thousands of Lebanese to flee their homes and killed more than 200 people, according to the health ministry, Reuters reports.
Israel on Thursday ordered everyone in the densely populated suburbs, Hezbollah's main stronghold in the capital, to evacuate before launching strikes that lit up the night sky.
He also warned civilians to leave large areas of southern and eastern Lebanon – strongholds of this Lebanese Shiite armed group.
These were the most extensive evacuation orders ever issued by Israel in Lebanon and sparked a mass displacement of people before the bombing continued on Friday, with columns of smoke blanketing Beirut's skyline, according to Reuters.
"We are sleeping here on the streets - some in cars, some on the street, some on the beach," said Jamal Seifedin, 43, who spent the night outside in the center of the capital.
"I've never slept on the ground like this. I was forced to. No one even brought a blanket," he said.
The Norwegian Refugee Council estimated that 300.000 people have been displaced in Lebanon, while the number of displaced could exceed one million.
Fighting in the South
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on Monday, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel, triggering a new Israeli offensive against the group – founded in 1982 by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard – 15 months after their war in 2024, according to Reuters.
The Lebanese Health Ministry reported a sharp rise in the death toll during the day, to 217 since Monday, up from 127 earlier, and said another 798 people had been wounded. The figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
No deaths were reported in Israel as a result of the Hezbollah attack. The Israeli military said eight Israeli soldiers were wounded – five of them seriously – in a rocket attack on Israeli territory near the border.
Defense Minister Israel Katz previously said that the son of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is a combat soldier, was wounded in Lebanon.
Katz said in a statement that Israeli soldiers have significantly expanded the five positions they have held in Lebanon since November 2024 and are advancing further, suggesting that the goal is to create a buffer zone to protect Israeli communities near the Lebanese border.
Reuters footage showed an Israeli armored vehicle in the town of Hiyam in southern Lebanon, with heavy gunfire heard in the background.
Hezbollah said it was fighting an Israeli ground incursion there, targeting a gathering of military vehicles near Hiyam.
Israeli attacks on Hezbollah are likely to continue even if the war with Iran ends, a source familiar with Israeli military strategy told Reuters.
Another Lebanese security source said: "This is an attempt to end Hezbollah once and for all," opening the possibility of a protracted conflict in a country where, although weakened, Hezbollah remains a powerful force.
Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah targets
An Israeli military official said multiple waves of attacks were launched against Hezbollah in the southern suburbs, hitting about 115 targets, including apartment buildings that the group, he said, was using as headquarters.
The airstrikes, he said, also targeted Tripoli in northern Lebanon, Tyre, Sidon and Nabatieh in the south, as well as Baalbek in the east.
Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said Hezbollah had fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel this week, including about 70 rockets since midnight on Friday.
Imran Riza, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, told Reuters that about 100.000 people have already been displaced to shelters in Lebanon and that the number of displaced people is expected to rise dramatically.
"What we have seen in the last few days is, I would say, unprecedented in Lebanon in terms of the scale of warnings, evacuation orders and reactions – even panic – that all of this has caused," Riza said.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk criticized Israel's evacuation orders, saying they raised serious concerns under international humanitarian law.
More than a million people were displaced in Lebanon during the 2024 conflict.
Hezbollah was seriously weakened in the 2024 war with Israel and has been under pressure to disarm ever since.
Hezbollah urges Israelis to leave their homes
Hezbollah, in a message posted in Hebrew on its Telegram channel early Friday, warned Israelis to leave towns within 5 kilometers of the border.
"Your army's aggression against Lebanese sovereignty and its safe citizens, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the campaign of expulsion it is carrying out will not go unanswered," Hezbollah said.
During fighting between Hezbollah and Israel in 2024, tens of thousands of Israelis were evacuated from towns in the border area, but many have since returned. Israeli officials have previously said there are no immediate plans to evacuate them again.
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