Israel orders mass evacuations in Lebanon, bombards Beirut – Reuters

IRAN
Tripoli
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Beirut
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SYRIA
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ISRAEL
LEBANON
IRAN
Tripoli
LEBANON
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the Israeli
military
Beirut
Airstrikes
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SYRIA
25km
ISRAEL
LEBANON
IRAN
Tripoli
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Beirut
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25km
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LEBANON
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Map showing Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon and areas designated by the Israeli military for evacuation.
Source: Israel Defense Forces, Institute for the Study of War & AEI Critical Threats Project
Israeli airstrikes pounded the southern suburbs of Beirut overnight and on Friday, smashing up city streets in an escalating conflict ​with Iran-backed Hezbollah that has sent many tens of thousands of Lebanese from their homes.
Israel ordered everyone in the densely-populated suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, to leave before launching strikes that lit ‌up the night sky. It earlier warned civilians to quit swathes of southern and eastern Lebanon.
They were the widest evacuation orders ever given by Israel against Lebanon and prompted a huge exodus of people before bombardments that turned buildings into rubble and took the facades off apartment blocks.
Israel’s military spokesperson posts evacuation orders on social media platform X. On Wednesday, the spokesperson ordered residents to leave a swathe of southern Lebanon amounting to nearly 8% of Lebanese territory. On Thursday, the spokesperson issued evacuation orders for Beirut’s southern suburbs with a roughly drawn map that included multiple suburbs and other towns, as well as written instructions that only mentioned some of those areas. Asked to clarify which areas in particular should evacuate, an IDF spokesperson told Reuters the map was “amorphic” and that the text was “what matters.”
Area under
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Beirut
Haret Hreik
Bourj al-Barajneh
Hadath
Chiyah
Airstrikes
Area under
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2km
Beirut
Haret Hreik
Bourj al-Barajneh
Hadath
Chiyah
Airstrikes
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evacuation
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2km
Beirut
Haret Hreik
Bourj al-Barajneh
Hadath
Chiyah
Airstrikes
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Haret Hreik
Bourj al-Barajneh
Hadath
Chiyah
Map showing Israeli airstrikes across Beirut and areas designated by the Israeli military for evacuation.
Source: Israel Defense Forces, Institute for the Study of War & AEI Critical Threats Project
An Israeli military official said several waves of strikes were launched against Hezbollah in the southern Beirut suburbs, striking about 115 targets including in residential buildings that the official said the group used as headquarters.
Israeli airstrikes have also targeted Tripoli in the north of Lebanon, Tyre, Sidon and Nabatieh in the south, and Baalbek in the east, the official said. ​Israeli military video showed what it said were strikes on command centres and weapons facilities in Lebanon. Reuters could not independently confirm that the buildings Israel hit did contain command centres or weapons facilities.
Meanwhile, many Lebanese evacuees were left without shelter after fleeing their homes.
“We’re sleeping here in the streets – some in cars, some on the street, some on the beach,” said Jamal Seifeddin, 43, who spent the night outside in the capital’s downtown district.
“I’ve never ​slept on the ground like this. I’ve been forced to. No one even brought a blanket,” he said.
Smoke billows after reported strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, March 6, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
People displaced from the southern suburbs of Beirut after the Israeli army’s warning prompted residents to evacuate rest at Martyrs’ Square in Beirut, Lebanon, March 6, 2026. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Vehicles stuck in traffic after Israel’s military issued evacuation orders of entire neighbourhoods in Beirut’s southern suburb, March 5, 2026. REUTERS/Claudia Greco
On Friday, the U.N. human rights chief, Volker Turk, said Israel’s evacuation orders raise serious concerns ​under international law.
“These blanket, ‌massive displacement orders we are talking here about hundreds and thousands of people,” he said. “This raises serious concern under international humanitarian law, ​and in particular when it comes to issues around forced transfer.”
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