South Beirut was rocked overnight as a dense cluster of Israeli airstrikes tore through a major Hezbollah stronghold, sending fireballs into the sky and triggering a massive civilian evacuation from some of the Lebanese capital’s most crowded neighbourhoods, officials say.

The raids began just after midnight, when jets roared in low over the Mediterranean and precision munitions slammed into multi‑storey buildings in the Dahiyeh district, long regarded as Hezbollah’s political and military heartland. Within minutes, entire blocks believed to house command centres, weapons depots and communications hubs were engulfed in flames.

Air‑raid sirens and mosque loudspeakers blared urgent calls to flee as secondary explosions ripped through underground storage sites, shattering windows across southern Beirut and plunging nearby streets into chaos. Footage posted online shows families streaming out with children and bags in hand, while ambulances and fire trucks fight their way through debris‑choked roads.

The Lebanese health ministry reports dozens of casualties so far, warning the toll is likely to rise as rescuers comb collapsed structures. Authorities have opened schools and public buildings as emergency shelters for thousands of residents forced to leave their homes in the middle of the night.

The IDF says it struck “one of Hezbollah’s most important operational centres,” claiming the complex was used to coordinate rocket and drone attacks into Israel. Lebanese leaders condemn the assault as a “blatant attack on civilians,” insisting that any military sites were embedded deep inside residential zones.

As dawn breaks over a scarred skyline and smoke still curls above south Beirut, the region is left asking whether this strike will break Hezbollah’s grip—or drag Lebanon and its civilians even deeper into a war they cannot control.