Christian religious leaders from Lebanon’s southern port city of Tyre called on the international community and Lebanese officials to act quickly to prevent Israel from attacking the Christian district of the city. The Israeli military has issued an evacuation warning for the port city, including the Christian quarter, which has been spared so far.

Warning and Evacuation

The warning from Israel’s military prompted hundreds of people to flee the Christian district along the Mediterranean coast, while members of the Civil Defense evacuated older people to safer areas. Cars packed with mattresses, luggage, and household belongings stretched for kilometers along Lebanon’s coastal highway, as residents fled Tyre following the latest Israeli warning.

“After the warnings in Tyre, we left. We picked up and left,” said Ali Bahar, who was traveling with his wife and three children in a car loaded with possessions. “Where should we go? There is nowhere to go,” Bahar said. “We will end up in the streets. We are heading to Sidon.”

Humanitarian Concerns

The three Christian leaders called on the international community and Lebanese leaders to “take immediate and serious action to spare the old quarter of Tyre from destruction and human tragedies.” They said that the old quarter is not merely a residential area, but the historical and human heart of Tyre, home to thousands of civilians, including families, children, and the elderly.

Any targeting or destruction of this neighborhood would constitute a humanitarian and national catastrophe with irreversible consequences, they warned. The Israeli warning to Tyre came after Israel and Iran traded fire following Israel’s targeting of Hezbollah in Beirut on Sunday, triggering heightened tensions in the Middle East and fears that the conflict could spread further.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.