Heavy Israeli strikes hit southern Lebanon after large-scale evacuation orders

BBC:

Waves of Israeli strikes have hit southern Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, according to the Israeli military.

Social media videos from Tyre, one of Lebanon’s biggest cities, show dust-covered crowds of people gathered around collapsed buildings.

On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had urged residents to move north of the Zahrani River, about 40km (25 miles) from the Israeli border, saying it would act “with extreme force”.

Both Israel and Hezbollah – the powerful Shia group supported by Iran, have accused each other of repeated violations of a ceasefire which came into force on 17 April.

Two sets of Israeli strikes hit Tyre and an area to the city’s east on Thursday morning, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Footage from Tyre captured explosions and fires burning through the night and into Thursday morning.

Videos showed streets lit orange by flames, smoke-filled roads, and at least one vehicle engulfed in fire.

By daylight, a massive fireball was filmed erupting near a cluster of high-rise residential buildings, sending a mushroom-shaped column of smoke rising above the city skyline.

Stunned residents looked on as debris spread through surrounding streets.

Israel said the strikes targeted suspected Hezbollah infrastructure.

A Hezbollah member in Tyre told the BBC rescue and recovery crews have had to stop their work because conditions remain “too dangerous” and workers received calls from the Israeli military warning them to evacuate the area.

Ambulance teams in Tyre are continuing to drive through neighbourhoods urging residents to leave, amid fears of further strikes.

More Israeli evacuation orders were issued overnight as people were asleep. The scale of displacement is now straining the wider region.

Shelters in the city of Sidon have reached full capacity, the head of the municipality told the BBC, with no space remaining for newly displaced people. Tyre’s authorities are advising residents to travel further north to the capital, Beirut.