Israel orders residents to leave southern Beirut

The Israeli military has ordered residents of southern Beirut to evacuate as airstrikes intensify in Hezbollah-controlled areas, marking a significant escalation in the Middle East conflict. Lebanon faces growing danger as southern neighborhoods and surrounding regions come under attack.

Reuters

5 March 2026 at 13:46:40

Israel orders residents to leave southern Beirut

A view shows the rubble of a damaged building after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, following renewed hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 5, 2026.

Reuters

The Israeli military warned residents to leave Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, instructing them to move north and east of the Lebanese capital, the first time Israel has issued a warning covering entire neighbourhoods in the Hezbollah-controlled area.

"Save your lives, evacuate your homes immediately," Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X, posting a map highlighting four neighbourhoods of the southern suburbs - an area adjacent to Beirut airport.

Lebanon was pulled into the war in the Middle East on Monday, when Iran-backed Hezbollah opened fire, sparking intensified Israeli airstrikes largely focused in the southern suburbs, southern Lebanon and eastern Lebanon.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military ordered residents to leave a swathe of southern Lebanon - an area amounting to about 8% of Lebanon's territory.

-Reporting by Jana Choukeir and Tala Ramadan; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Philippa Fletcher/Reuters