Israel warns of attacks on Beirut

TT

Updated 18.04 | Published 16.09

 

Traffic jams in Beirut after Israel warned of new attacks on the city's southern suburbs. Photo: Bilal Hussein/AP/TT

The Israeli military has issued an evacuation order for Beirut's southern suburbs. At the same time, Lebanese authorities state that a hospital in southern Lebanon has been partially destroyed in an Israeli attack.

Israel has attacked several Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon on Monday, while the Iran-backed movement has fired drones and rockets at northern Israel.

In the coastal city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, a building next to one of the city's hospitals was destroyed. The attack also hit the hospital and, according to the newspaper L'Orient-Le Jour, parts of it were destroyed, including a morgue.

Civilians in al-Dahiya, which is a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut, are being urged to leave the area immediately. The call comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered renewed attacks on the area.

In a joint statement, the ministers said it was following repeated ceasefire violations by Iran-backed Hezbollah.

“If there is no peace in the north (in Israel), there will be no peace in Beirut. We will not allow a situation where our citizens are put in danger while there is peace in Beirut,” Katz said during a ceremony, according to the Times of Israel.