BEIRUT, Lebanon: Israel issued an unprecedented evacuation warning on Thursday for the entirety of Beirut´s southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah, sending residents in the district of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing in a panic.
In a message to the residents of Beirut´s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, an Israeli military spokesman said: “Save your lives and evacuate your residences immediately.”
Such warnings typically foreshadow large-scale attacks, and massive traffic jams formed on the outskirts of the suburbs, as people fired guns in the air, urging locals to leave as soon as possible.
Earlier in the day, Israel said its forces had hit “several command centres belonging to the Hezbollah organisation” in south Beirut.
Lebanese authorities say at least 72 people have been killed, 437 wounded and 83,000 displaced from their homes since Monday.
Australia deployed two military aircraft to the theatre while Canada´s Prime Minister Mark Carney said he could not rule out his armed forces taking part in hostilities.
The war has also dragged in Nato member Turkiye after alliance air defences destroyed a missile launched from Iran heading towards Turkish airspace.
A Turkish official said the missile appeared to have been aimed at a British base in Cyprus, but Turkiye nonetheless summoned the Iranian ambassador over the incident.
Following fresh strikes on the Iranian capital, AFPTV images showed blackened vehicles and mangled buildings, with smoke still rising from some.
A 30-year-old Tehran resident told AFP: “We´re going through a very important page of our history and I´m not afraid.”
“Hope is the only thing that we have right now.”
An Iranian state-run foundation said the death toll from US and Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic has risen to 1,230, a toll AFP could not independently verify.
The country is effectively cut off from the rest of the world, with the internet operating at around one percent of capacity, according to the Netblocks monitor.
Israel´s war aims were to “inflict severe damage on the Iranian terror regime until it removes the existential threat”, military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said in a televised briefing.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said his US counterpart Pete Hegseth had assured him of Washington´s firm backing for their joint military campaign against Iran and urged him to continue the operation “to the end”. AFP reporters in Jerusalem heard explosions following warnings of incoming Iranian missile fire.
The conflict has not spared the rich Gulf monarchies, usually seen as a safe haven in a volatile region, as Iran has lashed out at cities and energy infrastructure.
