Residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold on the outskirts of the capital, began leaving their homes and looking for other places to stay, fearing a war with Israel, Lebanese security sources and locals told dpa on Friday.
“I am not afraid for myself but for my children,” said a resident of the area of Beir al-Abed in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Another resident said he was looking for a furnished apartment outside the capital in order to ensure he and his children are safe.
A Lebanese security source said “the situation is very worrying.”
Caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad said on Thursday that Lebanon’s medical supplies would last for four months in case of war.
Meanwhile, Lebanese hospitals are gearing up for a possible war with Israel.
The head of the Private Hospital Syndicate, Sleiman Haroun, told dpa that “all private hospitals have been prepared.”
“We have trained medical staff and carried out manoeuvers in hospitals in order to be ready for a war,” he said.
He added that they have medical supplies, but expressed concern as to whether the supplies would be sufficient, and said they should be as long as Beirut airport and the port remain open.
Th efears come after Israeli forces assassinated Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in a suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday evening.
A few hours later, the political leader of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an attack in the Iranian capital Tehran.
Iran and Hamas blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s killing and immediately threatened retaliation.
Israel has not yet commented publicly on the allegations.
“Our response is coming,” Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday during the funeral of Shukr, the group’s top military commander and the head its operations in southern Lebanon.
