TYRE, Lebanon — Residents of this ancient and embattled city were being forced Tuesday to choose between two bitter options: stay and risk getting killed by Israeli airstrikes, or leave and become refugees in their own country.
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And for the first time since Israel launched its latest invasion of southern Lebanon to root out Hezbollah, the Israeli evacuation order also includes Al Hara, the historic Christian quarter of this more than 4,700-year-old city.
“I never imagined leaving Al Hara,” Janette Barbour, a married mother of three grown children, told NBC News. “It is a safe area. We are not armed.”
When Israel first began bombarding the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah’s positions in southern Lebanon earlier this year, most Al Hara residents stayed put even as the war inched closer to Tyre, Barbour said.
“If some of the family members left, because they had medical cases, there were always family members that stayed,” Barbour said. “I told you, it is a safe area.”
The Israelis, however, contend that Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim militant group allied with Iran, is using Al Hara as cover to launch rocket and drone attacks on Israel.
So after the Israelis began firing on Tyre, Barbour said she joined the exodus heading north to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.
“I left this morning with my daughter,” Barbour said, adding that she intends to stay with her brother. “My husband and my son stayed in Al Hara. My son has a café in Tyre, and my husband has a restaurant in Tyre port, which is also part of Al Hara. They cannot leave their businesses.”
Many of the older Tyre residents are also staying put, she said.
“They didn’t want to leave their houses,” Barbour said. “Of course I am afraid, especially because part of my family is still there, but you know Al Hara is a neutral area, no political parties, no arms, so we’re hoping that it doesn’t get attacked.”
Founded by the ancient Phoenicians, Tyre has been besieged numerous times, from Alexander the Great to the Crusaders. It has been bombarded repeatedly by the Israelis since 1978.
When it’s not being attacked by military forces, Al Hara has been overrun by waves of tourists coming to admire a section of the city that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, and sample some of the best sandy beaches on the Mediterranean Sea.
A worker at an Al Hara hotel, who asked that neither he nor his workplace be identified for fear of winding up in the crosshairs of an Israeli missile, said most of their guests have fled.
“I have around 10 people in the hotel,” the worker said. “Most of them don’t want to leave Tyre, and the others don’t know where to go.”
The worker said he’s staying put too, but most of his neighbors are gone.
“Mind you, for the first time, many families left Al Hara,” he said. “We are afraid, it’s only human, but we decided to stay.”
Lily Hawila, a 29-year-old English teacher, lives a few miles away from Al Hara in a section of Tyre called Al Houch. She too has fled her city.
“This area was attacked during the 2024 war,” Hawila said. “Our apartment was damaged; shattered glass and broken doors. We fixed it when the ceasefire took place in November 2024. Today I don’t know what happened to our apartment. What I am sure about is that all the buildings of the street and other streets are on the ground.”
When the fighting first started, Hawila said she rented an apartment in the Chouf Mountains northeast of Tyre for her mother and her brother, who now lives in Poland and had come home for a visit.
“My father did not leave Tyre,” Hawila said. “He’s staying with his old mother at Al Bass, which is also an area in Tyre that is not very safe by the way.”
Sana Abou Zeid, a 50-year-old mother of three grown children, lives in a densely populated section of Tyre called Al-Masaken.
“Every time we get an evacuation order from the Israelis, I go and reside with my children” outside the city, Zeid said. “And when it is safe, we go back home.”
Zeid said her eldest son is serving in the Lebanese army and her youngest son is in high school. They can’t imagine living anywhere else besides Tyre, she said.
“I cannot leave Tyre because my children don’t want to,” Zeid said.
But as Zeid was speaking to a reporter, she received word that her street had been bombed and that eight people were killed.
“We are anxious,” Zeid said. “Let’s hope that we can stay where we are now, and not have to be displaced to another area. And let’s hope that we can return home soon.”
Zoya Awky reported from Tyre Lebanon. Corky Siemaszko reported from New York City.
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