Lebanese civilians fled the southern city of Tyre on Wednesday after the Israel army issued warnings for residents to evacuate large parts of the city which is home to thousands of displaced, reports AFP.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency meanwhile reported “intense enemy strikes” on several parts of Tyre district.

“The situation is very bad, we’re evacuating people,” said Mortada Mhanna, who heads Tyre’s disaster management unit.

Bilal Kashmar, the unit’s media officer, told AFP that many were fleeing the city and heading towards the suburbs. “You could say that the entire city of Tyre is being evacuated,” he said.

Only about 14,500 people were still in Tyre on Tuesday, thousands of them displaced from other parts of the south, he told AFP.