Families flee Israeli attacks from southern Beirut suburbs

(Patria) - Hundreds of families crammed into vehicles and fled southern Beirut suburbs late last night after midnight after Israel attacked the area and warned some districts to evacuate, AFP reported.

New strikes hit southern Beirut suburbs early Saturday after massive attacks hours earlier, as the Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah's "central command" in the area.

Bottlenecks formed in the middle of the night on the otherwise deserted streets of the capital, many of them in darkness due to power outages. In Martyrs' Square in the center of Beirut or along the seaside promenade, inconsolable men, women, and small children walked or sat on the ground.

"We were at home when there was an evacuation order. We took our personal documents, some things, and left," said Syrian refugee Radwan Msallam, who lives in a southern Beirut suburb. The father of six children aged three to seventeen said they "have nowhere to go," adding that they cannot return to his war-torn homeland.

The Israeli military late Friday warned residents of several areas in the southern suburbs to leave, after carrying out a wave of attacks on the densely populated district, and the Lebanese Ministry of Health stated that at least six people were killed and over ninety injured there.

The army then said it would attack in "a short time" three buildings in southern Beirut where Hezbollah allegedly stored weapons, a claim Hezbollah dismissed as "false".

Rescuers worked all night searching for survivors in Friday's attacks, the largest to hit the southern Beirut suburbs since Hezbollah and Israel waged war in 2006.

Hezbollah's Al-Manar television reported that seven buildings were destroyed in the attacks.