Lebanese flee Beirut en masse as Israel targets capital

Hundreds of families are fleeing southern Beirut amidst intensified Israeli airstrikes targeting alleged Hezbollah positions.

Israeli fighter jets conducted new air raids early Saturday, following Friday’s strikes on what the Israeli military claimed were Hezbollah headquarters. The attacks have left many Beirut residents in shock, with some forced to evacuate their homes.

Just before midnight, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) announced plans to bomb three purported Hezbollah weapons warehouses in southern Beirut. Hezbollah has denied storing weapons in residential areas.

IDF Arabic spokesperson, Colonel Avihai Adra’i, shared a map on social media platform X, indicating the targeted buildings and urging residents within a 500-metre radius to evacuate. Shortly after, strong explosions rocked the neighbourhood.

The Israeli military also reported strikes on Hezbollah positions near Tyre and claimed to have killed Mohammed Ali Ismail, described as the commander of Hezbollah’s rocket launch unit in southern Lebanon, along with his deputy.

Friday’s airstrikes, described as one of the fiercest in Beirut in recent years, resulted in at least six deaths and 91 injuries, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar television reported the collapse of seven buildings.

While Israeli media suggested the strikes targeted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, a source within the Lebanese group assured that Nasrallah was safe.

The ongoing conflict has left many civilians displaced, including Syrian refugees like Radwan Mesalam, who told AFP, “We were in the house when the warning for evacuation was given. We took our identities, our belongings, and went outside.” Mesalam, a father of six, expressed concern about having nowhere to go.