Tyre, Lebanon – On March 4, Em Saeid was at her home near the el-Buss roundabout in Tyre when Israel issued a forced evacuation threat for the entirety of southern Lebanon.She moved frantically, trying to gather her things and wake sleeping relatives, when locals started firing their guns in the air to warn people to evacuate.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listAlong with her husband, Yasser, her daughter, Samiha, and Samiha’s four-year-old daughter, she got in their Mercedes and headed towards Tyre’s port, which they thought would be safe from Israeli attacks.Em Saied described scenes of panic on the road. “Some women left their homes with their heads uncovered; other people were not entirely dressed. Old people were making their way on foot,” she said.A car ride that usually lasts just a few minutes ended up taking the family three hours. Once at the port, Yasser told his wife the family should head north to the capital, Beirut, and stay with a friend, as they had done when Israel escalated its attacks in September 2024, during what in Lebanon is called the “66-day intensification“.“When we arrived in Beirut, I was still in my pyjamas,” Samiha said on Sunday, now back in her home in Tyre with her family.‘Bombardment can feel easier’ than displacementOn March 2, Israel intensified its war on Lebanon for the second time in less than two years, unleashing havoc on large swaths of the country.Earlier that night, Hezbollah responded to almost 15 …
