BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese civilians fled the country's south and Beirut’s southern suburbs Monday, seeking refuge in Lebanon's capital following a new and deadly escalation between Israel and the Iran-allied Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that left more than 50 people dead.

The Hezbollah missile and drone attacks on northern Israel after midnight Sunday triggered waves of Israeli airstrikes and also brought the harshest criticism yet to the Iran-backed group from the country's leaders.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported at least 52 people were killed and 154 wounded in overnight strikes in the Beirut suburbs and southern Lebanon. The Ministry of Education said that schools will also be closed Tuesday because of the situation.

During the day, Israel's military carried out dozens of airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs as well as southern and eastern Lebanon. Shortly after sunset, an Israeli airstrike in a Beirut neighborhood caused widespread damage and the Israeli military said it targeted a senior Hezbollah official.

The Israeli military earlier said it struck more than 70 weapons storage facilities, launch sites and missile launchers belonging to Hezbollah. The military also said it killed senior Hezbollah intelligence official Hussein Mokaled.

Also oon Monday, the Israeli military launched a wave of strikes on branches of al-Qard al-Hasan, a Hezbollah-linked microfinance institution, that Israel said is being used to fund the group's military wing.

The government heavily criticizes Hezbollah's actions

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group said the commander of its military wing in Lebanon was also killed in an airstrike south of Beirut overnight.

The Israeli military said that Hezbollah fired a drone toward northern Israel on Monday evening adding that it was successfully intercepted.

Earlier on Monday, the Lebanese government slammed Hezbollah’s decision to enter Iran’s war with Israel and the United States, calling the militant group’s actions illegal and demanding it hand over its weapons.

“There is a side that wants to drag the country to matters that we have nothing to do with,” the Lebanese information minister quoted President Joseph Aoun as saying during an emergency meeting of the Cabinet that discussed the escalation. Aoun was referring to Hezbollah.

Highways were jammed overnight and into Monday with people fleeing after what was Israel's deadliest barrage on Lebanon in more than a year, striking hours after Hezbollah fired missiles across the border for the first time in more than a year.

Ali Hamdan was stuck in gridlock on the road between his village in southern Lebanon, Deir al-Zahrani, and the port city of Sidon. What should have been a half-hour’s drive had taken seven hours, he said.

“I don’t know how long it will take us to reach Beirut," he said. "I’m headed toward Beirut, but I don’t know where yet. We don’t have a place to stay.”

Seeking refuge in a school

At a public school in Beirut, hastily converted into a temporary shelter, families arrived carrying mattresses, plastic bags and bundles of clothing. Other families sat on sidewalks beside their belongings, some men smoking as they waited for space to become available inside.

Volunteers moved through the crowd, registering names as families filled classrooms and gathered in the school courtyard.

Hussein Abu Ali, who fled a southern Beirut suburb with his wife and children, described the moment the strikes hit.

“My son began shaking and crying," he said. "Where are you supposed to go? I stepped outside, then back in because I was afraid of shooting in the air. I gathered my children and went down to the street.”

Nadia Al‑Salman, displaced from the southern town of Majdal Zoun, said they left their homes "not out of fear or terror of the United States, but to fulfill our religious and legal duty to protect ourselves.”

“They do not intimidate or frighten us, and they will not make us retreat even an inch from the path of resistance,” she added.

Lebanon's Minister of Social Affairs Hanin al-Sayed told reporters that 171 shelters have been opened throughout the country, adding that they are housing 29,000 displaced persons.

During the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in 2024, at one point, more than a million people were displaced in Lebanon. Many have been unable to return to their homes in the south, where villages along the border remain in ruins.

Hezbollah's attack on Israel expands the war in the region

Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel a day after the militant Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, triggering the war in Gaza. After months of low-level fighting, the conflict escalated into a full-scale war in September 2024 before a U.S. brokered ceasefire nominally halted the fighting two months later.

Since that ceasefire, Israel has continued to launch near-daily strikes in Lebanon, saying it aims to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding.

Monday’s escalation also marked the first time in more than a year that Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for firing into Israel. Hezbollah said in a statement that the strikes were carried out in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and for “repeated Israeli aggressions,” describing it as “a legitimate defensive response."

But Lebanon’s government said it considers Hezbollah’s military activities illegal and that the group should hand over its weapons. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said after the emergency Cabinet meeting Monday that only the state should decide on matters of war and peace.

He added that Hezbollah’s military activities were banned going forward and called on security agencies to prevent the firing of missiles or drones from Lebanon and detain those behind the launch. It was the harshest stance the Lebanese government has taken yet toward Hezbollah, which also has a political party with a parliamentary bloc in addition to its armed militants.

Salam also called on the international community to work on getting a “clear and final commitment” from Israel to stop its strikes on Lebanon.

The Israeli military overnight issued a warning for residents of around 50 communities across southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate. Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Israel is keeping “all options on the table,” including a potential ground invasion of Lebanon and threatened that “Hezbollah will pay a very heavy price."

He said Israel has called up more than 100,000 reservists since the war with Iran began on Saturday.

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Associated Press writers Abby Sewell in Beirut, Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

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