BEIRUT — Israel struck the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre on Tuesday, killing at least eight people, Lebanon's Health Ministry said, after the Israeli military issued an evacuation order covering the entire city for the first time. The strikes came a day after Iran warned it would resume attacks on Israel if operations in Lebanon continued, testing a fragile pause in the wider conflict.
The deaths followed a strike on the city's eastern edge, the ministry and Lebanese state media said, in one of the deadliest raids on Tyre since the war between Israel and the Iran-backed group Hezbollah began on March 2. Rescuers were still searching the rubble for survivors, the ministry said. Casualty tolls cited by various outlets ranged from seven to nine.
Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman posted an evacuation warning on X directed at all of Tyre, including its northwestern Christian quarter, telling residents to move north of the area. Until Tuesday, the Christian quarter in the Old City — where many displaced people had sought refuge — had been spared such warnings, according to AFP. Lebanese state media said civil defense teams helped elderly and immobile residents reach shelters as families fled north.
The Israeli military said last week that Hezbollah fighters were sheltering in the area, without providing evidence, and had urged residents to press the group to leave. Israel says its campaign aims to dismantle Hezbollah, the only Lebanese faction that did not disarm after the country's civil war ended in 1990.
The escalation followed a volatile few days. Iran, which says any halt to the broader Middle East conflict must include a ceasefire in Lebanon, suspended its own operations against Israel earlier in the week but warned they could resume. Hezbollah on Tuesday praised Iran's recent strikes on Israel, according to The Washington Times.
President Donald Trump, who has pressed for a deal to end the war, said Tuesday he remained confident an agreement with Iran could be reached within days and would lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to CNN. Israel's ambassador to the U.S. said the allies had "some differences" to resolve, CNN reported, after Trump cautioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that further strikes on Iran could leave him isolated.
The humanitarian toll has mounted. Doctors Without Borders said it was concerned about what it called forced displacement, saying evacuation demands can push people to move in unsafe conditions. According to figures cited by the Lebanese Health Ministry, Israel's offensive in southern Lebanon has killed thousands and displaced more than a million people since the war began.
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