Evacuation orders spread across southern Lebanon as casualties and displacement climb.
BEIRUT, LEBANON — Israeli warplanes struck Hezbollah targets in and around Beirut this week, hitting the capital’s southern suburbs and nearby towns as the Israeli military warned residents in dozens of southern border villages to evacuate and Hezbollah said it kept firing rockets and drones into northern Israel.
The escalation has pushed Lebanon deeper into a wider regional conflict that reignited after cross-border fire early this week. Lebanese officials said the latest strikes added to a growing toll of dead and wounded and forced more families into crowded shelters, while Israel said it was targeting Hezbollah command centers and weapons sites. The rapid pace of attacks, the spread of evacuation warnings and the movement of additional Israeli forces toward southern Lebanon have raised fears that the air campaign could be followed by a broader ground push.
Overnight into Wednesday, Israeli strikes hit the southeastern suburb of Hazmieh, where a missile struck a hotel, and other attacks hit Aramoun and Saadiyat south of Beirut’s international airport. Lebanese state media reported six people were killed and eight were wounded in those strikes. Another Israeli strike hit the eastern city of Baalbek, killing six people and wounding 15, according to state media. Residents said some of the attacks came without warning, a pattern that Lebanese security officials said can signal an attempt to hit a specific person rather than a broader area.
“We live in a country where a missile can fall on your head at any moment,” said Maggie Shibli, whose family is tied to the Hotel Comfort in Hazmieh after the strike tore through part of the building. Abbas Najdeh, displaced from the southern port city of Tyre and staying at the hotel with relatives, said the blast jolted his family awake. “We were sleeping then suddenly I, my children and my wife were thrown” by the explosion, he said. In Beirut’s southern suburbs, residents reported hearing heavy blasts as smoke rose from the area known as Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold that has been struck repeatedly during past rounds of fighting.
Israel’s military said its aircraft were striking Hezbollah command centers and arms depots in Beirut, describing the targets as part of the group’s military infrastructure. The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson issued multiple warnings telling people to leave specific buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs before strikes, and on Wednesday the military issued a broader message to residents of dozens of villages near the border to evacuate immediately and move north of the Litani River. The Litani cuts across southern Lebanon and has long been treated in diplomacy and past cease-fire talks as a reference line for limiting armed activity near Israel’s border.
Lebanon’s government has said it has worked in recent months to reduce Hezbollah’s presence in parts of the south, a claim Israeli officials have disputed as they accuse the group of rebuilding positions and moving weapons. The new evacuation orders came as Israeli forces increased their presence in the south, according to regional reporting and accounts from residents who said they saw more military activity along key roads. The area is already strained by waves of people leaving villages near the border, with families heading north toward Sidon, Beirut and the Bekaa Valley, often carrying only what they could pack quickly.
The current round of fighting erupted early Monday after Hezbollah launched rockets and drones into northern Israel, and Israel responded with airstrikes across Lebanon. Lebanese health officials reported more than 70 people were killed and more than 400 were wounded since the latest hostilities began, though officials did not immediately break down how many were civilians or fighters. Separate government figures put displacement at nearly 84,000 people, with many shelters in Beirut and Sidon nearing capacity as schools and municipal buildings filled with families seeking safety.
At a news conference, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam appealed for support for the displaced and described them as victims caught between armed forces. Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed said the flow of people into shelters was testing Lebanon’s ability to respond, especially as strikes expanded beyond the border region to areas around the capital. Lebanese officials also faced pressure to curb Hezbollah’s armed operations. In a move that signaled rising internal strain, Lebanon’s government announced a ban on Hezbollah military activity after the group’s opening fire, a decision likely to sharpen tensions between the state and the powerful armed movement.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Kassem defended the group’s actions in a televised speech, casting rocket fire as a response to Israeli attacks and rejecting the idea that diplomacy alone could halt Israel’s campaign. “As long as the occupation is present, then the resistance and its weapons are a legitimate right,” Kassem said. He also criticized the Lebanese government’s condemnation of the rocket attacks and its stated commitment to disarm the group, arguing that Israel would keep striking regardless of political statements. During the speech, gunfire rattled parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs as some supporters fired into the air, according to images and accounts from the area.
Israeli officials, for their part, said the strikes were aimed at degrading Hezbollah’s ability to attack Israel and at preventing the group from restoring weapons stores and command capabilities. Lebanese security officials said at least one person targeted in Hazmieh was a local official from the Beirut southern suburb of Ghobeiri and that the official was wounded. Such claims were difficult to verify independently amid ongoing strikes and limited access to some sites. The Israeli military did not publicly identify the individual it sought in the Hazmieh strike, and Lebanese authorities have not released a full list of those killed and wounded in all locations hit since Monday.
The new violence follows a longer arc of conflict that has repeatedly flared along the Lebanon-Israel border. Hezbollah began firing toward Israel a day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. After months of lower-intensity exchanges, a full-scale Israel-Hezbollah war erupted in September 2024, and Israel later launched a ground invasion into Lebanon. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire in late 2024 halted that fighting, but Israeli forces continued to hold five points on the Lebanese side of the border and Israel carried out frequent strikes that it said were aimed at stopping Hezbollah from rearming.
In the past two days, the geography of the strikes has widened, with blasts reported not only in Beirut’s southern suburbs but also in towns around the airport corridor and in the Bekaa region. The pattern has amplified anxiety in the capital, where traffic surged as families tried to move away from neighborhoods they feared could be targeted next. At the Hazmieh hotel, residents and displaced families picked through broken glass and damaged rooms, while security forces cordoned off parts of the street. In Baalbek, residents reported strikes that shook buildings and sent people rushing outside as ambulances moved toward the area.
Diplomatic efforts have struggled to keep pace. Lebanese leaders have demanded an end to Israeli strikes and called for international pressure to prevent a broader war, while Israeli officials have argued they are responding to attacks and operating against an armed group they say embeds forces and weapons near civilian areas. With each new warning and each new blast, the space for de-escalation has narrowed. For now, both sides have signaled they are prepared to keep fighting, even as the costs mount for civilians on both sides of the border.
By Thursday, strikes and warnings continued, and the next milestone was the Israeli military’s stated expectation that evacuations south of the Litani River would be completed quickly as operations intensified in the border area. Lebanese officials said they were preparing for additional displacement and more casualties if the air campaign expands or if Israeli forces push farther into southern Lebanon.
Author note: Last updated March 5, 2026.