Panic in Beirut as Israel warns Lebanon's southern suburbs to evacuate

BEIRUT (AP) — Traffic was gridlocked in Lebanon 's capital on Thursday as panicked residents tried to flee after Israel's military issued a notice ordering all of Beirut's southern suburbs to evacuate, apparently signaling plans for a major bombardment of the area.

The notice for the area known as Dahiyeh advised residents to “save your lives and evacuate your homes immediately,” and specified which routes residents of different areas could take.

Since the resurgence of hostilities between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, Israel has struck sites in Beirut’s suburbs and issued a blanket warning for residents south of the Litani River to evacuate their homes, but had not previously issued a blanket evacuation order for areas outside of Beirut’s capital.

After the attacks by the U.S. and Israel on Iran triggered a new war in the Middle East, Hezbollah launched missiles and drones into Israel on Monday for the first time in over a year, and Israel has retaliated with bombardment of southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The conflict had claimed 102 lives and forced the displacement of more than 83,000 people in Lebanon before Thursday's evacuation order.

Hadi Kaakour, a resident of Beirut’s southern suburbs who was fleeing said he is not sure that even after leaving he will be safe.

“We don’t put anything past them (Israel), they will strike us no matter where we go,” he said.

Others expressed frustration at Lebanon being pulled into the larger war in the Middle East.

“We got sucked into a mess that we have nothing to do with,” said Yousef Nabulsi, another fleeing resident. “People have been displaced and are now staying on the streets, and this is wrong.”

U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have seen and heard clashes in the area as more Israeli forces have moved across the border, a spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, said Thursday. It was the first confirmation of combat taking place.

“Ground combat was observed west of Kfar Kila,” a village near the border with Israel, overnight, which included “firing of shots,” UNIFIL spokesperson Tilak Pokharel said. In Khiyam, a town about 5 km (3 mi) from the border, he said peacekeepers saw “air attacks and flares and heard explosions.”

On Tuesday, Israel said it sent additional troops into southern Lebanon. Israeli forces had already been occupying several border points in Lebanon since a November 2024 ceasefire halted the previous Israel-Hezbollah war.

The Lebanese army has pulled back from the border as the Israeli troops moved in, while Hezbollah has issued a series of statements announcing attacks on Israeli troops attempting to advance and published a video showing a tank being struck by a missile. The Israeli army on Wednesday said two of its soldiers were wounded by anti-tank fire in Lebanon.