BEIRUT, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of Israeli airstrikes targeted areas across Lebanon overnight and early Friday, striking Beirut's southern suburbs, southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley amid escalating military tensions.
According to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, the strikes came after the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings to residents in several neighborhoods of the southern suburbs, prompting widespread panic as many residents rushed to leave the area.
Large numbers of residents fled their homes, causing severe traffic congestion on roads leading out of the suburbs. Witnesses reported that the surrounding roads were heavily jammed, particularly as some families began evacuating only after the airstrikes had already started.
Local media said the bombardment triggered powerful explosions that shook Beirut and surrounding areas, while Israeli warplanes continued intensive flights over the capital and Mount Lebanon.
Some families were also reported to have left the Sabra Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut amid rising tensions following the Israeli warnings. At the same time, several hospitals and health centers in the southern suburbs implemented emergency measures, evacuating certain wards and transferring patients to safer locations amid fears that the airstrikes could expand.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said in a statement that it had issued a warning in Hebrew to residents of northern Israeli settlements within five kilometers of the border, urging them to move further south.
Hezbollah on Monday fired missiles and drones toward Israel, saying the attacks were in retaliation for the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a joint U.S.-Israeli strike and for repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon. Israel responded with massive airstrikes on Hezbollah targets and deployed ground forces into southern Lebanon, marking a sharp escalation in the conflict. ■
