SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Israel has pushed further into Southern Lebanon, vowing to crush the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. On Thursday, it warned residents of one of Lebanon's biggest cities to leave their homes. The warnings displaced tens of thousands more people in an already struggling country. NPR's Jane Arraf and Jawad Rizkallah have this report from Southern Lebanon.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Israel issued the warning Wednesday afternoon, a map showing the entire city of Tyre and surrounding villages were under potential attack.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORN HONKING)
ARRAF: It was a major Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha. Instead of celebrating, tens of thousands of people started driving north. To where? A lot of them didn't know.
This is one of the main highways leading from the South, and it's just choked with vehicles. Cars, trucks, some people on motorcycles. Every car is either packed with people or packed with people and stuffed to the roof with bags.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: One woman is in tears.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORN HONKING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: "It's enough," she says.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: "We left our food on the table. Every time, we have to leave and drop everything." She says they're disgusted by both Israel and Hezbollah. I ask for her name, but she starts to cry again and walks away.
ABU ALI: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: We met Abu Ali (ph) who says an airstrike hit a few hundred yards from them. He's driving a car with the backseat stuffed with bags of belongings. His 10-year-old son is with him, his wife in another car with their two daughters.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Into right-hand lane.
ABU ALI: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: The problem is, he says, "there's nowhere to go." There's no space in shelters, and they have no money to rent an apartment. He's a government contractor and hasn't been paid in months. Abu Ali asks that his full name not be used in fear of retaliation by Israel. He says 80% of the residents of Tyre left.
ABU ALI: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: "But not everyone can afford to drive north," he says. Amid the banged-up cars and old taxis, Ria Karit (ph) steps out of a yellow Camaro sports car. He and his wife, Tetiana Sergeyevana (ph), who's Ukrainian, saw their home and business destroyed four days ago in an Israeli airstrike. Sergeyevana's country is also at war, but she says she's going back there.
TETIANA SERGEYEVANA: I think Ukraine is better from this.
RIA KARIT: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: An airstrike destroyed the Karit's four-story family home, along with their ice cream plant. Two days ago, Karit's cousin, her son and two daughters were killed in another airstrike. Karit says he used to think Israel was hitting civilian buildings because Hezbollah was there, but then they hit his family's homes.
Jane Arraf, NPR News, Sidon, Lebanon. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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