Israeli strikes may have displaced a million people

The country’s prime minister said ongoing Israeli air strikes may have already forced up to one million people from their homes across Lebanon.

Najib Mikati said, “It is the largest displacement movement that could occur.”

The Lebanese Health Ministry reported that more than 50 people were killed in raids on Sunday – two days after Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. Meanwhile, Hezbollah fired more rockets into northern Israel.

In a separate development, Israel said it carried out “large-scale” air strikes on military targets of the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen.

Hezbollah confirmed on Sunday that military commander Ali Karaki and prominent cleric Sheikh Nabil Qaouq were killed in Israeli air strikes.

Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy said: “We need to continue hitting Hezbollah hard.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Mikati said the air strikes forced people to flee Beirut and other parts of the country, including the southern border areas.

Local authorities are struggling to help all those in need, with shelters and hospitals under increasing pressure, BBC correspondents in Lebanon report.

Aya Ayoub, 25, told the BBC that she had to flee her home in the Tahouitet al-Ghadir suburb of southern Beirut with her family of six because it was too dangerous to stay there.

She said that “all the buildings around her house are completely destroyed,” and that she is currently residing with 16 other people in a house in Beirut.

“We left on Friday and had nowhere to go. We stayed until 02:00 in the streets until a group of people helped us get into an apartment building that was under construction. We live on candles at night, and we have to wake up. Water and food are from outside.”

Sarah Tahmaz, a 34-year-old journalist, told the BBC that she left her home near Beirut with her mother and two brothers last Friday.

She added that it took about 10 hours to reach Jordan via Syria by car.

“I think we are lucky enough to have a place to stay in Jordan, where my mother’s relatives are staying. We don’t know what will happen next, and we don’t know when we will return,” Tahmaz added.

Previously sporadic cross-border fighting escalated on October 8, 2023 – the day after an unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip – when Hezbollah fired on Israeli positions in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Since then, hundreds of people have been killed, including many Hezbollah fighters, while tens of thousands have also been displaced on both sides of the border.

Israel also said on Sunday that it had carried out air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, hitting power plants and a port in Ras Issa and Hodeidah.

Later footage emerged showing a huge explosion in the port.

Israel says it targeted the sites in response to recent missile attacks by the Houthis, as well as the destruction of facilities used to transport Iranian weapons.

The Houthis, a Shiite group that controls large areas of Yemen, condemned the Israeli strikes and described them as “brutal aggression.”

They added that four people were killed and 33 others were injured, and vowed revenge.

There are growing international fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East.

Washington warned Israel of all-out war with Hezbollah or Iran, saying that a major conflict would make Israelis unable to return to their homes in the north.