ReutersCivilians were evacuated from several areas in the center of Tire just before the strike
Israel launched at least four airstrikes on the historic Lebanese port city of Tire, hours after extending an evacuation order to several central areas.
Video showed a huge cloud of black smoke rising from a coastal area just a few hundred meters from the Roman ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Lebanon’s state news agency said the airstrikes caused “massive destruction” to homes and infrastructure, but there were no reports of casualties.
The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah’s command and control centers, including its Southern Front headquarters.
Earlier, the military’s Arabic-language spokesman released a map of the surrounding area, saying it planned to act “strongly” against Iranian-backed militants.
Tens of thousands of residents had already been evacuated from the city in recent weeks in response to Israel’s intense air campaign and ground invasion.
But before the strike began, a disaster management force spokesperson said about 14,000 people were still living in the city, including those who had been evacuated from elsewhere in the south.
“You can say that the entire city of Tire has been evacuated,” Bilal Kashmal told AFP news agency, adding that many people were heading to the suburbs.
Wael Farage said he had evacuated with his family in response to the evacuation order and was sitting on the beach when he heard his home had been destroyed.
“We took our children and took everything we could,” he told Reuters as he inspected the damage. “When I came back, the house had collapsed.”
“We are here, and we are resolute. We will remain here…in the rubble.”
Another man, Issam Awad, said: “We were sitting like everyone else and suddenly, without any warning, the bombing started.”
“Thank God, we were all safe and there were no injuries from the explosion.”
The Israeli military said the airstrikes were part of efforts to target Hezbollah’s activities and thwart its efforts to rebuild its military power.
The group also accused the group of systematically occupying civilian and religious areas in order to carry out attacks that endanger the Lebanese population.
EPA
Israeli military says it has taken measures to reduce damage to civilians
Lebanese state news agency reported on Wednesday that Israeli military aircraft carried out multiple airstrikes in southern Lebanon and elsewhere in the eastern Bekaa Valley.
These areas were targeted overnight, along with the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, where Hezbollah has a strong presence.
The Israeli military said the attack in Beirut targeted a weapons storage and manufacturing facility and a Hezbollah command center.
Pro-Hezbollah television station Al-Mayadeen announced on Wednesday night that its station in the city had been hit by an Israeli attack.
The military has also killed a Hezbollah division commander in the southern regions of Djibouchit, Juaiyah and Qana in airstrikes in the past few days, and said its forces have killed around 70 Hezbollah soldiers during an operation inside southern Lebanon to dismantle the group’s infrastructure. He also announced that he had killed a militant. And a cache of weapons.
Getty Images
Israeli airstrikes targeted areas near Roman ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (file photo)
There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.
But the group said its fighters fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Wednesday, including one in the morning that targeted the Gilot intelligence base north of the central city of Tel Aviv. .
Rocket sirens rang out in Tel Aviv as senior U.S. officials traveling with Secretary of State Antony Blinken were ushered into a secure hotel room. It is unclear whether Blinken himself was forced to evacuate.
Other rockets struck two factory buildings in the northern Israeli towns of Akko and Kiryat Bialik, causing damage but no injuries.
Hezbollah later acknowledged that Hashem Saffieddin, who was expected to become the group’s next leader, was killed in an Israeli airstrike south of Beirut on October 4.
Saffieddin was a cousin of Hezbollah’s late leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a separate attack in the capital last week.
Israel has launched a full-scale military operation against Hezbollah after nearly a year of cross-border fighting sparked by the Gaza war, with tens of thousands of people in Israeli border areas displaced by rocket attacks. He said he wanted to ensure the safe return of residents.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of the Palestinians on October 8, 2023, a day after a deadly attack on Israel by its ally Hamas.
More than 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since then, including 1,900 in the past five weeks, according to the country’s health ministry. Israeli authorities said 59 people were killed in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.