Companies operating at Shahid Rajaee Port near Bandar Abbas, Iran -- including warehouse staff, shipowners, and freight forwarders -- fled the port after it was targeted in joint attacks by the United States and Israel on Saturday.
Black smoke was rising from a naval radar station and a warehouse of the Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base near the port at around 11:00, an overseas Chinese resident told China Global Television Network (CGTN).
The evacuation of businesses from the port has triggered traffic jams on roads leading to the city, according to the witness, with footage obtained by CGTN showing trucks, fuel tankers and cars crowding the roads.
The United States and Israel on Saturday launched strikes against Iran, plunging the war-torn Middle East into a new round of violent conflicts.
Iran has retaliated with a series of counterattacks against Israel and U.S. targets across the region, with explosions reported in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.
The latest flare-up came after the United States and Iran wrapped up their third round of indirect talks earlier this week and agreed to resume negotiations next week.
Businesses flee key Iranian port following attacks by US, Israel
Businesses flee key Iranian port following attacks by US, Israel
At least 15 people were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday, according to Lebanese official sources.
At least one child was among those killed and several children were among those injured in the strikes, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry and the National News Agency.
The Israeli army on Saturday morning ordered residents of southern Lebanese towns to evacuate before conducting airstrikes and demolishing homes.
Israeli attacks and airstrikes in Lebanon since March 2 had killed 2,795 people and injured 8,586 others, according to the latest data released by the Emergency Operations Center of Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it launched a rocket barrage overnight targeting a gathering of Israeli military vehicles and soldiers along the Lebanon-Israel border, in response to Israeli violations of the ceasefire.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the group was in a "defensive position" against Israeli "aggression" and warned that Israel should expect a response whenever it targets Lebanese villages or Beirut's southern suburbs. An Israeli soldier was seriously injured, and two others moderately injured in Israeli territory near the Lebanese border by an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah on Saturday, according to a statement issued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The soldiers were rushed to a hospital, the statement said, adding that additional explosive drones launched by Hezbollah fell in Israeli territory near the border, without causing any casualties.
Another explosive drone hit an unmanned IDF engineering vehicle in southern Lebanon, with no casualties reported, the IDF said, adding that its air force intercepted several projectiles launched by Hezbollah toward Israeli soldiers operating in southern Lebanon.
The exchanges of fire came despite a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that took effect last month following weeks of cross-border fighting tied to broader regional tensions triggered by the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.
15 killed in Israeli strikes in S. Lebanon
