Beirut’s southern suburbs were rocked overnight as Israeli jets launched one of the largest air offensives of the war on Hezbollah’s main stronghold, just hours after residents received frantic evacuation orders by phone, loudspeaker and leaflets, Lebanese officials say.

Shortly before midnight, sirens and mosque loudspeakers urged families in parts of Dahiyeh to flee “immediately” amid warnings of an imminent strike. Traffic cameras captured miles‑long jams of cars, motorbikes and people on foot streaming north as drones circled overhead, tracking the exodus. Then, just after 1:00 a.m., the bombardment began.

Witnesses describe at least two dozen massive explosions as precision‑guided bombs struck multi‑storey buildings believed to house Hezbollah command centres, weapons depots and communications hubs. Entire blocks were left cratered or on fire; shockwaves shattered windows far beyond the targeted zones. The Lebanese health ministry reports significant damage but says the pre‑strike evacuation appears to have reduced civilian casualties, even as dozens of wounded continue to pour into hospitals.

The IDF calls the assault a “decisive blow” against Hezbollah’s “brain and backbone” in Beirut, insisting it targeted only military infrastructure embedded in civilian areas. Lebanese leaders denounce the raid as “collective punishment” and warn that ordering residents out does not legalise the scale of destruction.

As dawn reveals a jagged skyline of collapsed towers and smoking ruins in Hezbollah’s heartland, one question hangs over Beirut and the wider region: did this carefully telegraphed strike avert a massacre — or did it just mark the opening of a much larger, longer Israeli campaign on Lebanese soil?