For fourth time, Israel airstrike targets Lebanese port city of Tyre

Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Airstrikes battered part of the port city of Tyre about three hours after Israel Defense Forces leaders warned residents of Lebanon's fifth-largest city to evacuate its central area Wednesday.

Arab Media spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted the evacuation notice on X, which was written in Arabic.

The evacuation notice included a map of Tyre with the danger area in red with text and arrows telling residents of the targeted area and to evacuate to an area north of the Awali River.

"Anyone who is near Hezbollah facilities and combat equipment is putting his life in danger," Andraee said in his post. "Hezbollah's activities force the IDF to act against it forcefully, as it does not intend to harm you."

The area the IDF struck is located near a UNESCO World Heritage site that contains Roman ruins.

The airstrike is the fourth that Israel has used against the historic port city that formerly was a Phoenician island base that was captured by Alexander the Great and later by the Roman Empire.

There are no initial reports of casualties from the airstrike, partly due to tens of thousands of Tyre residents already fleeing the city in recent weeks following IDF air and ground actions against Hezbollah.

The airstrike occurred soon after Israel said presumptive Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine died in an Oct. 5 airstrike on a Hezbollah bunker in the Dehieh suburb of Beirut and believed to house Hezbollah's intelligence leaders.

Safieddine was the leader of the Hezbollah Executive Council and thought to be the successor to Hassan Nasrallah, who the IDF assassinated in an airstrike on a Hezbollah compound inside Beirut on Sept. 27.