Published on 2 March 2026
Lebanese civilians have fled southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs as a deadly escalation between Israel and Hezbollah erupts. Many are seeking refuge in temporary shelters across Lebanon’s capital.
At least 31 people were killed and 149 wounded in overnight Israeli attacks in Beirut’s suburbs and southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Highways were gridlocked as people evacuated after Israel’s deadliest attack on Lebanon in a year. The attacks came shortly after Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel for the first time in more than 12 months.
“I don’t know how long it will take us to reach Beirut,” said Ali Hamdan, who spent seven hours on the 30-minute journey from his village to Sidon. “I’m heading towards Beirut, but I don’t know where yet. We have no place to stay.”
In Beirut, public schools were transformed into emergency shelters. Families arrived with beds and luggage, while volunteers registered names as classrooms and courtyards filled with displaced people.
Hussein Abu Ali, who fled with his family from a southern Beirut suburb, described the strikes: “My son started shaking and crying. Where do you want to go? I stepped outside, then I was afraid of being shot in the air. I gathered my children and went down the street.”
Nadia al-Salman, a displaced person from Majdal Zoun in the south, declared: “They do not intimidate or frighten us and they do not make us retreat an inch from the path of resistance.”
During the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war, more than one million Lebanese were displaced. Many are unable to return to their destroyed border villages.
Hezbollah said Monday’s attacks were retaliation for the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and “repeated Israeli aggression”, calling them a “legitimate defensive response”.
The Israeli military has warned residents of about 50 communities in southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate. Military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said Israel was considering “all options,” including a possible ground invasion, warning that “Hezbollah will pay a heavy price.” He said Israel had mobilized 100,000 reservists since the war with Iran began on Saturday.
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