Beirut's southern suburbs reduced to rubble by Israeli attacks | Israel attacks Lebanon news

In Beirut's southern suburbs on Wednesday, smoke rose from buildings hit by overnight strikes as young men on mopeds raced along largely empty streets and residents grabbed what they could from their homes, some driving away with mattresses strapped to car roofs.

Mohammed Sheaito, 31, one of the few who did not leave, said that “that night the ground beneath us shook… and the sky lit up with the force of the attacks.”

“The area has become a ghost town,” said the taxi driver, who has taken his parents, sister and her children – already displaced by Israeli bombing in southern Lebanon – to safety elsewhere.

The southern suburbs of Beirut are an area of ​​densely packed apartment blocks, shops and businesses and are also home to Hezbollah's main institutions.

Israel says it is targeting sites of the Iranian-backed militant group, which was founded during Lebanon's civil war after Israel laid siege to the city in 1982.

Last week there were a series of Israeli raids in the southern suburbs – known as Dahiyeh – before an attack on Friday killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Afterwards, raids in the area increased.

Thousands have fled the bombings because the Israeli army posted evacuation orders on social media ahead of some of the attacks.

Some live with relatives, others in schools converted into shelters in Beirut or in rented apartments. Those with nowhere to go slept on the streets.

Mohammed Afif, the head of Hezbollah's information office, told journalists on a media tour that all buildings hit in Dahiyeh were “civilian buildings and not military activities.”