Israel attacks the Lebanese city of Tire after an evacuation order

Israel has carried out at least four airstrikes on the historic Lebanese port city of Tyre, hours after expanding evacuation orders to several central areas.

Videos showed huge clouds of black smoke rising from the coastal area, just a few hundred meters from the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Roman ruins.

Lebanon’s state news agency said the attacks caused “massive destruction” to homes and infrastructure, but there were no reports of any casualties.

The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah’s command and control centers, including the organization’s Southern Front headquarters.

The army’s Arabic spokesman earlier released a map of neighboring areas where he said they would take “strong” action against the Iran-backed armed group.

Tens of thousands of residents have fled the city in recent weeks in response to Israel’s intense ground and air invasion.

But before the strikes began, a spokesman for the disaster management unit said about 14,000 people were still living in the city, including people displaced from elsewhere in the south.

“It can be said that the entire city of Tire is being evacuated,” Bilal Kashmar told AFP news agency, adding that many people were heading towards the suburbs.

Wael Farraj said he and his family had fled following the evacuation order and were sitting by the beach when they heard the news that their home had been destroyed.

“We took the children away, picked up what we could,” he told Reuters news agency as he inspected the damage. “We turned around and saw that the house had collapsed.”

“We are here and we are steadfast. We will stay here… amid the ruins.”

Another man, Issam Awad, said: “Like everyone else, we were sitting when suddenly, without warning, the bombing started.”

“Thank God we are all fine and no one was injured by the explosion.”

The Israeli military said the attacks were part of an effort to target Hezbollah activities. and hampered efforts to rebuild the country’s military capabilities.

It also accused the group of systematically taking over civilian and religious areas to carry out attacks in a way that endangers the Lebanese people.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli aircraft carried out multiple airstrikes elsewhere in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley on Wednesday.

These areas were also targeted overnight along with the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, where Hezbollah has a strong presence.

The Israeli military said the attacks in Beirut targeted weapons production and storage facilities as well as Hezbollah command centers.

On Wednesday evening, pro-Hezbollah al-Mayadeen television channel said its offices in the city had been attacked by Israel.

The army also said it had killed Hezbollah regional commanders in the southern regions of Jibchit, Jouaiya and Qana in airstrikes over the past several days, and that its troops had killed about 70 Hezbollah fighters in operations inside southern Lebanon aimed at destroying the group’s infrastructure. and armory.

There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

However, the group said its fighters launched a series of rockets into Israel on Wednesday, including one in the morning targeting the Gilot intelligence base, located north of the central city of Tel Aviv. .

Missile sirens sounded in Tel Aviv, causing senior US officials traveling with Secretary of State Antony Blinken to be taken to a secure room in their hotel. It is unknown whether Blinken himself will be forced to take shelter.

Another salvo of rockets hit two factory buildings in the northern Israeli towns of Acre and Kiryat Bialik, causing damage but no injuries.

Later, Hezbollah confirmed that Hashem Safieddine, who was expected to become the group’s next leader, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut on October 4.

Safieddine is a cousin of the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in another attack in the capital last week.

Israel has launched a full-scale military campaign against Hezbollah after nearly a year of cross-border fighting sparked by the war in Gaza, saying it wants to ensure the safe return of tens of thousands of residents there. Israeli border areas had to be evacuated due to rocket attacks.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of the Palestinians on October 8, 2023, a day after its ally Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel.

According to the country’s Ministry of Health, more than 2,500 people have died in Lebanon since then, including 1,900 deaths in the past five weeks. Israeli authorities said 59 people were killed in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.