Staff Reporter:
Israel’s military on Saturday struck three buildings in the suburbs of the southern city of Tyre after ordering residents to flee, Lebanese state media said.
AFP footage showed thick plumes of black smoke rising from buildings that Israel said Hezbollah was using.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that “Israeli warplanes attacked the three buildings that it had identified and threatened”.
Israel’s military on Saturday warned residents in a district of Lebanon’s Tyre to evacuate ahead of strikes, and reiterated a demand for people to leave the area south of the Litani River.
The Israeli military said it would “soon strike military infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation” in the Zuqaq al-Mafdi area of the southern city of Tyre.
In a separate warning, a military spokesman later urged those remaining south of the Litani, an area covering hundreds of square kilometres, to move north, repeating a call the military gave on Wednesday.
“Strikes are ongoing as the army is operating with great force in the area,” the statement said.
“For the sake of your safety you must leave the area immediately.”
Many Shia residents of villages in the area had already fled northwards since the first Israeli warning.
Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon and conducted many air strikes on the country this week after Hezbollah joined its ally Iran in attacking Israel in retaliation for the US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic.
It struck Tyre on Friday, in an area adjacent to a UNESCO World Heritage site, according to the NNA.
Hezbollah on Saturday warned residents in a part of northern Israel that it was going to strike the area.
Lebanon’s health ministry on Saturday said Israeli attacks on the country had killed almost 300 people since the start of the war with Hezbollah on Monday.
