TYRE, Lebanon — Fear-stricken residents driven by the threat of Israeli bombings fled this city by the tens of thousands Sunday, swelling Lebanon's refugee population to more than 400,000 in the latest stage of an escalating Israeli campaign to force the Lebanese government to rein in Hezbollah guerrillas.
This normally bustling southern port city was turned into a desolate zone of abandoned buildings, closed shops and vacant streets after Israel issued an extraordinary overnight warning that the city of 250,000 had been added to the target list for attack jets and helicopters seen flying overhead.
The exodus came as an array of artillery, planes and helicopter gunships kept up Israel's pressure on Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas--who have been rocketing northern Israel--and the rest of Lebanon for a fourth day. The conflict expanded with the first attack on a government power plant that was seen as symbolizing Lebanon's nascent efforts to rebuild after its long and devastating civil war.
The strike was "just a hint of what we can do," Israeli air force chief Herzl Bodinger said.
All told, three civilians died and seven were wounded in Israeli raids and shelling Sunday in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon, security sources said. Since Thursday, at least 27 people have been killed and about 80 injured by Israeli forces in Lebanon. Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel in the past week have killed one person and injured more than 40.
Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, pledged that his movement will respond to the campaign by turning Israel into a "fiery hell." He said 300 suicide bombers are on their way to southern Lebanon and that they will strike Israel abroad as well. Israeli military intelligence chief Moshe Yaalon confirmed that Israel is bracing for possible Hezbollah suicide bombs, car bombs or even explosives sent into Israel by hang gliders. Jewish or Israeli targets abroad might also be hit with the aid of Iran, he warned.
In Tyre, most of the residents raced to abandon the city in cars, trucks, buses, ambulances, tractors, livestock wagons or anything else that moved immediately after hearing a midnight warning broadcast by Israel's proxy South Lebanon Army.
