Israeli air strikes pummel Lebanese historic city of Tyre

Successive Israeli air strikes have pummeled the southern port city of Tyre in Lebanon following an evacuation warning from the Israeli military for parts of the city, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

Footage aired by local media and the Lebanese Civil Defence showed thick plumes of smoke rising against the skyline, along with fires and widespread destruction of residential buildings.

Following the Israeli evacuation warning, civil defence teams patrolled the city with loudspeakers, urging residents to leave the area immediately.

The National News Agency (NNA) reported “a series of strikes” on the ancient coastal city, beginning with a raid on a residential apartment.

An AFP news agency video journalist reported thick smoke covering parts of Tyre, including smoke rising from a building along the seafront.

The Israeli army had earlier told residents in parts of central Tyre to leave immediately, warning it would attack Hezbollah targets there.

“Hezbollah’s activities force the [Israeli military] to act against it forcefully”, military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X, urging residents to “head north”.

An accompanying map showed large swathes of the city marked in red, including an area adjacent to a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Union of Tyre Municipalities received a phone call in Arabic, apparently from the Israeli military, urging residents to evacuate several streets in the area, a municipal source told AFP.

The NNA said the union instructed the civil defence and emergency personnel to use loudspeakers to urge residents to leave, “which created a state of panic”.

The strikes came after a raid early on Monday in the centre of the city that killed seven people and wounded 17 others, according to a Ministry of Health statement.

Israel last month escalated air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds. It sent ground forces into Lebanon following a year of cross-border exchanges of fire with the Iran-backed group over the Gaza war.