Israel strikes near Tyre, Mikati says evacuation threats are war crimes

Strikes rocked a village near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Thursday, state media said, after Israel issued an evacuation call for the area.

The strikes on Al-Hawsh coincided with an exodus of civilians from the Rashidieh camp for Palestinian refugees near Tyre which was also covered by the evacuation warning, the official National News Agency said.

The camp, located about five kilometers from Tyre, is one of the largest and most overcrowded in Lebanon.

Earlier Thursday, Lebanon's prime minister condemned Israel for issuing evacuation warnings for entire areas and called for diplomatic pressure for a halt to its strikes more than a month into the war.

"The threats issued by the Israeli enemy against Lebanese civilians to evacuate entire cities and leave their areas and homes are an additional war crime added to the series of crimes committed by the enemy," Najib Mikati said in a statement.

He said he was "requesting intensified pressure on Israel to stop its aggression".

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted the evacuation call for the Rashidieh camp and other nearby villages and towns on X, telling residents to move "north of the Awali river".

Hours later, Adraee also issued an evacuation call for the people of Baalbek and its surroundings, with Lebanese official media later reporting Israeli strikes near the main eastern city.

"Enemy aircraft launched four strikes on the village of Douris and the surroundings of the city of Baalbek," the National News Agency said.

The war in Lebanon began late last month, nearly a year after Hezbollah began low-intensity cross-border fire into Israel in support of Gaza following Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

At least 1,784 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since September 23, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures, though the real number is likely to be higher due to gaps in the data.