At least nine people have lost their lives and around 30 have been injured in a series of bombings carried out by Israel against the city of Tyre, shortly after evacuation orders were issued in several sectors of the city, including its Christian quarter.
According to data released by the Lebanese state news agency, NNA, the attacks have left at least nine dead and 28 injured, several of them in critical condition, so it is not ruled out that the death toll may increase in the coming hours.
One of the impacts has affected a neighborhood in Tyre where the Rifai mosque is located, less than 200 meters from one of the city's most important archaeological sites, as reported by the Lebanese newspaper "L'Orient-Le Jour".
A few minutes before the bombings, the Israeli Army had issued new evacuation orders for Tyre and several nearby towns and refugee camps due to the possibility of new attacks, in a context of growing tension over the continuation of its offensive on Lebanon.
"Urgent alert to the residents of the city of Tyre, including the Christian quarter, and the surrounding camps and neighborhoods," stated the Arabic spokesperson for the Israeli Army, Avichai Adrai, who detailed that the instruction also extends to Shabariha Hamadié, Jal al Bahr, Zaquk, Al Mfadi, Al Bas, Al Maashuq, Burj Shemali, Nabatiye, Al Haus, Rashidié, and Ain Baal.
"Due to the ceasefire violations by the terrorist group Hezbollah and attacks on the Israeli home front, the Army is forced to act against it with force," he stated in a social media message, in which he asks the inhabitants of these areas to "evacuate their homes immediately" and move north of the Zahrani River.
"Your presence near Hezbollah elements or their facilities or means of combat endangers your lives," he warned, while insisting that the alleged activities of Hezbollah members in the Christian quarter of Tyre "obliges" the Israeli Army to "act" in the area, which until recently had been excluded from these evacuation orders.
In this regard, he stressed that "any building used by Hezbollah for military purposes may be subject to attack," before remarking that "any movement south of the Zahrani River – located even further north of the Litani River – could endanger your lives."
The governments of Israel and Lebanon reached an understanding last week on a mechanism to implement a ceasefire, conditioned on Hezbollah halting its attacks and withdrawing north of the Litani River, something the organization has rejected, considering that the agreement does not include the withdrawal of Israeli troops nor security guarantees.
Consequently, the Shiite party-militia announced that it would maintain its operations, which has led Israel to continue its bombings, including one carried out on Sunday against the capital, Beirut, which was supposed to be outside its targets according to the agreement, causing Iran to launch a barrage of missiles against Israeli territory.
The Iranian attacks also triggered an Israeli response, originating an exchange of fire for the first time since the April ceasefire, although both sides agreed on the same Monday to halt these attacks after a demand to this effect from the United States.
The Iranian Armed Forces announced that they would suspend their offensives but warned that they would respond if Israel continued its bombings in Lebanon, in parallel with talks between Tehran and Washington to try to reach a peace agreement to end the conflict in the Middle East.
Iran has been issuing warnings for weeks about Israeli operations in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, maintaining that the ceasefire agreed upon in April with the United States extended to the entire region. However, the Israeli army has intensified its air attacks and accelerated its invasion of Lebanon.