Eleven people killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanese Tyre

(Patria) - Eleven people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the historic city of Tyre in southern Lebanon and surrounding areas on Tuesday, amid an Israeli military warning to the entire city to evacuate.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes on more than a dozen other locations across the south of the country.

Three people were killed in an Israeli strike near Tyre on Tuesday, the health ministry said, bringing the death toll in the region to eleven, AFP reported.

Nine people were wounded in the strike, including two women, the ministry added, confirming an earlier toll of eight dead.

The action came despite Iran's warning a day earlier that it would attack Israel if it attacked Lebanon.

Tehran insists that Lebanon must be part of any agreement to end the wider war in the Middle East, into which Hezbollah dragged Lebanon by attacking Israel in support of its Iran.

Hezbollah called on Lebanese authorities to improve their relationship with Iran and to use Tehran's support, days after Iran attacked Israel in response to the bombing of southern Beirut.

Last week, Lebanon's president and prime minister issued sharp calls for Tehran to stop interfering in their country's affairs, after Hezbollah rejected a conditional ceasefire with Israel.

Residents flee

An AFP correspondent saw residents of Tyre, including those from the Christian quarter, fleeing and heavy traffic moving north after the Israeli warning.

Another correspondent from the coastal city of Sidon, further north, saw displaced people arriving from Tyre, some with belongings hastily strapped to the roofs of their cars.

Israel has repeatedly struck the city of Tyre since the outbreak of the latest war with Hezbollah. But until Tuesday, Tyre's Christian quarter in the Old City, a small area where displaced people had sought refuge, had been spared Israeli evacuation warnings aimed at the rest of the city in the ongoing war.

"Urgent warning to residents of the city of Tyre, including the Christian quarter, and the camps and surrounding settlements," read the Israeli military warning on social media platform X, referring to several Palestinian refugee camps in the area. "For your safety, please evacuate your homes immediately... and head north of the Zahrani River."

The Zahrani River is about thirty kilometres north of Tyre. The Israeli military last month declared all areas south of the river "combat zones."

NNA reported an Israeli strike on the outskirts of Tyre before the evacuation notice was issued, and further strikes on the city after the warning.

The health ministry earlier said at least eight people were killed and 32 wounded in the strike before the warning, as rescuers continue to search the rubble for survivors.

Last week, the Israeli military claimed that Hezbollah members were operating in Tyre's Christian quarter and said it would warn people to leave if the group remained there.

Lebanese authorities say 3,666 people have been killed and more than a million others displaced in Israeli strikes since March.

On the Israeli side, according to the military, 29 soldiers and one civilian contractor have been killed in Lebanon.