- Title: 'I'll die in Tyre,' says Lebanese resident refusing to leave damaged port city
- Date: 27th March 2026
- Summary: TYRE, LEBANON (MARCH 27, 2026) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RUBBLE AND DAMAGED BUILDINGS IN TYRE, LEBANON VARIOUS OF DAMAGED STORES, DEBRIS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TYRE RESIDENT AND CLOTHING BUSINESS OWNER, MOHAMMED WAHBI, 45, SAYING: "All our businesses were harmed in the first war (referring to Israel-Hezbollah 2024 war), and now in the second war. We're having difficulty trans
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: CRISIS DESTRUCTION IRAN ISRAEL LEBANON TYRE
- Location: TYRE, LEBANON
- City: TYRE, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Middle East
- Reuters ID: LVA001795927032026RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Rubble, damaged cars and devastated shops were seen on Friday (March 27) in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre.
Mohammed Wahbi, a local resident and clothing business owner, told Reuters the war between Hezbollah and Israel had severely affected people's livelihoods. He said two of his shops were destroyed.
Sixty-three-year old Khaled Othman said he would not leave the city.
"I'll die in Tyre," he said. "Where would we go?"
People have no safe space to find refuge in Lebanon, even in the capital Beirut, UNICEF's representative in Lebanon, Marcoluigi Corsi, told a briefing on Friday, amid Israel's offensive against Hezbollah.
An UNHCR official separately said around 150,000 people had been left isolated after bridges were destroyed.
Israel on March 4 ordered all residents south of Lebanon's Litani River to leave the area, two days after Hezbollah responded to U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran by firing rockets at Israel. The river runs east from the Mediterranean about 30 km (19 miles) north of the border with Israel. About 8% of Lebanese territory lies south of the river.
Marking an escalation of Israel's plans, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on March 24 that Israel had destroyed five bridges over the river and that the military would "control the remaining bridges and the security zone up to the Litani." He said troops would remain there as long as there is "terrorism and missiles."
Hezbollah has fired rockets from locations both north and south of the Litani this month. Its attacks have caused damage and injuries in northern Israel, as well as one death. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon since March 2, the military has said, and two civilians have been killed in northern Israel by a Hezbollah rocket in that time.
Israel's troops are clashing with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and its warplanes have heavily bombed the south, the east and the capital Beirut. More than 1 million people have been displaced and more than 1,000 have been killed, including more than 120 children, 80 women and 40 medics, Lebanon's health ministry says. It does not otherwise distinguish between civilians and militants.
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