Lebanon says seven dead in strike on Tyre as Israel army urges evacuation

BEIRUT: Lebanon said an Israeli strike on Tyre on Monday killed seven people, with the Israeli army later issuing an evacuation call for swathes of the southern coastal city.

An “Israeli enemy strike this morning on a building” in the centre of Tyre killed “seven people and wounded 17 others”, a health ministry statement said, updating an earlier toll of five dead and 10 wounded.

An AFP video journalist saw emergency personnel rush a survivor to an ambulance on a stretcher, while other rescuers worked to put out a heavily smouldering fire at the site, where a residential apartment block had collapsed.

Later Monday, the Israeli army told residents in parts of central Tyre to leave immediately, warning it would attack Hezbollah targets there.

“Hezbollah’s activities force the (Israeli army) to act against it forcefully,“ military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X, urging residents to “head north”.

An accompanying map showed large swathes of the city marked in red, including an area abutting a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Israel last month escalated air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds and sent ground forces into Lebanon, following a year of cross-border exchanges of fire with the Iran-backed group over the Gaza war.

Tyre was subjected to heavy Israeli strikes last week, leaving swathes of the centre in ruins.