Intense Israeli Airstrikes Send People Fleeing Beirut in Panic

The first Israeli airstrike that rattled Beirut, the Lebanese capital, on Tuesday struck without warning, destroying a four-story building in the heart of the city. Then a barrage of airstrikes struck the city’s southern suburbs in quick succession: One strike, then two, then 20 — all within minutes and all sending plumes of black smoke across the skyline.

Soon a city on edge was panicked, as the Israeli military issued warnings for four more imminent strikes in the capital. People jumped into their cars or took to the streets on foot trying to get out of the city, clogging the roads with crowds and bumper-to-bumper traffic. Few were certain of where to go or how to avoid the neighborhoods highlighted in the warnings.

“There is no safe place tonight,” said Mohammed Awada, 52, who fled the southern suburbs of Beirut in October.

The Israeli bombardment of Beirut and its surroundings on Tuesday was the most intense since the war between Hezbollah and Israel escalated, stoking panic in the Lebanese capital as people anxiously waited for news of a cease-fire deal.

The airstrikes struck in the heart of the capital after a series of evacuation warnings — the first for the city center during the war. Around 10 minutes later, airstrikes began hitting central Beirut, leaving almost no time for people to evacuate. The areas targeted included an upscale neighborhood on Beirut’s seafront, home to the American University of Beirut.

The intensified bombings came as Israeli officials prepared to meet to discuss a possible cease-fire with Hezbollah. The final days of the 2006 Lebanon war, the last major conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, featured some of the most intense Israeli bombardments of that war.