Lebanese civilians have fled southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs as a deadly escalation erupts between Israel and Hezbollah. Many are seeking sanctuary in makeshift shelters across Lebanon’s capital.

At least 31 people were killed and 149 wounded in overnight Israeli strikes on Beirut’s suburbs and southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

Highways became gridlocked as people evacuated following Israel’s deadliest assault on Lebanon in over a year. The strikes 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 had been travelling for seven hours on what should have been a 30-minute journey from his village to Sidon. “I’m headed towards Beirut, but I don’t know where yet. We don’t have a place to stay.”

In Beirut, public schools transformed into emergency shelters. Families arrived with mattresses and belongings, 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, recounted the strikes: “My son began shaking and crying. Where are you supposed to go? I stepped outside, then back in because I was afraid of shooting in the air. I gathered my children and went down to the street.”

Nadia al-Salman, displaced from Majdal Zoun in the south, declared: “They do not intimidate or frighten us, and they will not make us retreat even an inch from the path of resistance.”

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During the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war, over one million Lebanese were displaced. Many remain unable to return to their destroyed border villages.

Hezbollah stated Monday’s attacks were retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and “repeated Israeli aggressions”, calling them “a legitimate defensive response”.

The Israeli military warned residents in approximately 50 communities across southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate. Military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin stated Israel is considering “all options,” including a potential ground invasion, warning that “Hezbollah will pay a very heavy price”. He added that Israel has mobilised over 100,000 reservists since the war with Iran began on Saturday.