Israel bombs historic Lebanese port city in latest round of attacks
The Israeli army launched several air strikes on Lebanon’s historic southern port city of Tyre, known in Arabic as Sour, on Wednesday.
The military had issued orders for residents to leave large swathes of the city, which has also been hosting many people fleeing Israel’s bombing of other southern towns and villages.
Videos shared by local media showed members of Lebanon’s civil defence patrolling the streets of Sour, telling people over megaphones to leave immediately as Israel was about to strike.
Some three hours later, clouds of smoke engulfed the Unesco-listed city as Israel pounded its centre with air strikes.
"The situation is very bad, we're evacuating people," Mortada Mhanna, who heads Sour’s disaster management unit, told AFP.
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"You could say that the entire city of [Sour] is being evacuated," Bilal Kashmar, the unit's media officer, told the agency.
Some people reported fleeing their homes and seeking the beach for safety.
Israel says it is bombing the city due to military actions by Lebanese group Hezbollah, without providing evidence.
Sour is said to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. One of the ancient Phoenician cities, it is from Sour that queen Dido, known locally as Elissar, is believed to have left her homeland to found the Carthaginian empire in present-day Tunisia.
The small modern city is typically a bustling spot for locals, fishermen, and tourists from across Lebanon and beyond who seek Sour for its famed Roman and Phoenician ruins, which lie close to the area Israel is currently bombing.
Israel’s latest attacks have turned Sour into a shadow of its former self, with only about 14,500 people remaining in the city prior to Wednesday’s strikes.
The coastal highway is now packed with cars carrying mattresses, suitcases and clothes as civilians desperately flee yet another round of bombings.
Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in cross-border clashes since 8 October 2023, but the situation strongly escalated in mid-September when Israel exploded thousands of Lebanese pagers and walkie-talkies in a remote mass bombing attack, and then launched an intensive air campaign in Lebanon. Days later, on 1 October, the Israeli military invaded south Lebanon.
Israel’s war on Lebanon has killed over 2,500 people since October 2023, according to the Lebanese health ministry, and displaced over 1.2 million. At least 1,552 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon since 23 September.
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