Israel ordered residents of the ancient Lebanese city of Tyre to evacuate Tuesday, including its historic Christian Quarter, as the conflict across the Middle East continued to spiral.
The Israeli Defense Forces said the order was issued because of Hezbollah activity in the city and accused the Iranian-backed terrorist group of violating the ceasefire.
The warning marked the first time during the current war that Israel issued an evacuation order covering the entire city, including the Christian Quarter, an area that had previously been spared from Israeli strike warnings.
“In light of the terrorist Hezbollah party’s violation of the ceasefire agreement and targeting of Israel’s home front, the Israel Defense Forces are compelled to act against it forcefully. The Israel Defense Forces do not intend to harm you,” IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote Tuesday morning on X.
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Adraee warned residents to move north of the Zahrani River, about 20 miles north of Tyre’s city center.
“Your presence near Hezbollah elements or their facilities or combat means endangers your lives,” Adraee continued.
The IDF said Hezbollah activity inside the Christian Quarter forced Israel to prepare for operations there.
“As we warned in the past days, following Hezbollah elements’ actions inside the Christian Quarter in the city, the Israel Defense Forces will be compelled to act against their terrorist activities in the quarter in the near term,” Adraee wrote.
The Christian Quarter in Tyre has been continuously inhabited by Christians for nearly 2,000 years, making the evacuation order especially striking as the war widens across Lebanon, Israel, Iran and Gaza.
Israel launched military operations against Hezbollah after the group fired a fresh round of missiles at northern Israel in March. The barrage came in response to the joint U.S.-Israeli assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Adraee warned that any building used by Hezbollah for military purposes could be targeted.
“Any building used by Hezbollah for military purposes may be subject to targeting. To ensure your safety – evacuate your homes immediately and move north beyond the Zahrani River,” Adraee added.
He also warned residents not to move south of the river.
“Any movement south of the Zahrani River may endanger your lives,” his statement concluded.
The evacuation order came after Iran and Israel exchanged missile barrages Monday night, even after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian officials initially signaled they would agree to President Donald Trump’s demand to stop the shooting.
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The United States is also maintaining a naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil route.
Trump said on Truth Social that the blockade “will remain in place, and in full force and effect, until a ‘Final Deal’ is reached.
The growing crisis also hit U.S. forces directly when U.S. Central Command announced the rescue of two American service members after a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache went down in waters near Oman.
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Meanwhile, Israel said it carried out strikes in Gaza that killed two Islamic Jihad terrorists.
The IDF said Monday’s strikes killed Iyad Muhammad Abd al-Aziz Nofal and Ahmad Abd al-Hamid Hamad Ma’arouf.
Nofal was described by the IDF as a Nukhba commander in Islamic Jihad, while Ma’arouf was identified as the head of an Islamic Jihad terrorist cell accused of carrying out multiple rocket attacks against Israel.
The IDF said the two were “planning to carry out imminent terror attacks against IDF troops and were eliminated in order to remove the threat.”
Israel said it took steps before the strike to reduce civilian casualties.
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“Prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance,” the IDF wrote in the statement.
The Gaza strike came one day after Israel targeted Hamas’ Naval Police Headquarters in Khan Yunis.
Taken together, the evacuation order in Tyre, missile exchanges with Iran, continued strikes in Gaza and the U.S. blockade in the Strait of Hormuz show a region moving closer to a wider war despite Trump’s push to force the fighting to stop.
For Israel, the message to Tyre was blunt: Hezbollah’s presence inside civilian and historic areas will not shield the group from attack.
For residents of one of the oldest Christian cities in the region, it means fleeing north as another front in the Middle East conflict threatens to explode.
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