Thousands Escape Beirut and Southern Lebanon as Israeli Strikes Continue: Day Three Updates on Iran War

The Israeli army announced early Monday that it was targeting Hezbollah positions throughout Lebanon after the group fired missiles and drones at Israel in response to the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader. The Shia organization has long served as a key ally of Tehran in the region.

Witnesses reported hearing blasts in Beirut, the Lebanese capital. Lebanese security officials informed Reuters that Israeli forces had hit the city’s southern districts, an area dominated by Hezbollah.

The Israeli defence force called on residents of almost fifty villages in eastern and southern Lebanon to leave their homes ahead of possible counter‑attacks following Hezbollah’s fire into Israel. Early Monday, roads in southern Lebanon and the routes out of Beirut’s southern suburbs were clogged with people escaping.

President Trump cautioned on Sunday that combat actions in Iran were ongoing and would persist “until all of our objectives are achieved.” He defended the campaign, stating that “an Iranian regime equipped with long‑range missiles and nuclear weapons poses a grave danger to every American … I again urge the Revolutionary Guard, the Iranian military police, to surrender and accept full immunity or face certain death.”

The U.S. president told Fox News that 48 leaders have been eliminated in U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. “It’s progressing. It’s progressing quickly. This has been the case for 47 years,” Trump said. “No one can fathom the success we’re seeing—48 leaders removed in a single blow.”

A suspected drone attack struck RAF Akrotiri, a British base in Cyprus, the Ministry of Defence confirmed. No injuries were reported at the facility. The alleged strike occurred hours after Keir Starmer said the United Kingdom had permitted the United States to hit Iranian missile sites from British bases as officials prepared an unprecedented rescue effort for UK citizens in the Gulf.

Oil prices surged and equity markets felt pressure on Monday after the U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran sparked concerns of major worldwide economic disruption. Brent crude rose as much as 13 % in early trading, reaching $82 a barrel—a 14‑month peak—as the effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global trade route, heightened worries about oil supplies.

Three American service members have been killed in action during U.S. military operations against Iran, the U.S. Central Command reported on Sunday. They were the first confirmed fatalities since the United States began launching strikes on Iran on Saturday. Trump warned in a Truth Social video that further casualties were likely.

The casualty count from a missile hit on a girls’ school in southern Iran has climbed to nearly 165, according to Iranian state media. The school, struck on Saturday morning, appears to be the deadliest single incident of the U.S.–Israeli bombing campaign on Iran to date.