Panic in Beirut as Israel warns people to evacuate from the city's southern suburbs

BEIRUT (AP) — Traffic was gridlocked in Lebanon 's capital on Thursday as panicked residents tried to flee after Israel's military ordered people from all of Beirut's southern suburbs to evacuate, apparently signaling plans for a major bombardment of the area.

The order for the area known as Dahiyeh advised residents to “save your lives and evacuate your homes immediately,” and specified which routes residents of different areas could take toward central Beirut and further north.

Since the resurgence of hostilities between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, Israel has struck sites in Beirut’s suburbs and issued a blanket warning for residents south of the Litani River — an area in southern Lebanon stretching to the border with Israel — to evacuate their homes, but had not previously issued a blanket evacuation order for Beirut’s southern suburbs.

After the attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran triggered a new war in the Middle East, Hezbollah launched missiles and drones into Israel on Monday for the first time in over a year, and Israel has retaliated with bombardment of southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The conflict had claimed 102 lives and forced the displacement of more than 83,000 people in Lebanon before Thursday's evacuation order.

The order rattled Lebanese authorities, with President Joseph Aoun calling his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in an urgent bid to halt the anticipated widespread strikes, according to a statement from his office.

Macron issued a statement calling for an end to the conflict and announcing that Paris will send aid to Lebanon, in the first apparent diplomatic endeavor to end the boiling conflict.

“Hezbollah must immediately cease its fire toward Israel. Israel must refrain from any ground intervention or large-scale operation on Lebanese territory,” the French president said in a post on X, adding that he has communicated with U.S. President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanon's top political leadership.

He called on the militant group to disarm and said he supports Beirut's endeavors to deploy the military to assert full control over the country's territory.

Hadi Kaakour, a resident of Beirut’s southern suburbs who was fleeing said he is not sure that even after leaving he will be safe.

“We don’t put anything past them (Israel), they will strike us no matter where we go,” he said.

Others expressed frustration at Lebanon being pulled into the larger war in the Middle East.

“We got sucked into a mess that we have nothing to do with,” said Yousef Nabulsi, another fleeing resident. “People have been displaced and are now staying on the streets, and this is wrong.”

U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have seen and heard clashes in the area as more Israeli forces have moved across the border, a spokesperson for the peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL said Thursday. It was the first confirmation of combat taking place.

“Ground combat was observed west of Kfar Kila,” a village near the border with Israel, overnight, which included “firing of shots,” UNIFIL spokesperson Tilak Pokharel said. In Khiyam, a town about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the border with Israel, he said peacekeepers saw “air attacks and flares and heard explosions.”

On Tuesday, Israel said it sent additional troops into southern Lebanon. Israeli forces had already been occupying several border points in Lebanon since a U.S.-brokered November 2024 ceasefire halted the previous Israel-Hezbollah war.

The Lebanese army has pulled back from the border as the Israeli troops moved in, while Hezbollah has issued a series of statements announcing attacks on Israeli troops attempting to advance. The Iran-backed militant group also published a video showing a tank being struck by a missile. The Israeli army on Wednesday said two of its soldiers were wounded by anti-tank fire in Lebanon.

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Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

A giant poster shows the late Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh, while workers check a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Nabatiyeh town, south Lebanon, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A man removes clothes from his damaged shop at a commercial street that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Nabatiyeh town, south Lebanon, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A giant poster shows the late Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh, while workers check a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Nabatiyeh town, south Lebanon, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Cars sit in traffic as residents flee Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Smoke rises following Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Hezbollah members walk past a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are falling sharply on Wall Street Thursday, including a 1,000-point slump for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, as oil prices rise further because of the war with Iran.

The S&P 500 sank 1.4% in afternoon trading, coming off a frenetic start to the week that saw financial markets swerve sharply, sometimes hour by hour. The Dow tumbled 1,052 points, or 2.2%, as of 1:27 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% lower.

Financial markets are again following the cue of oil prices. They're cranking up the pressure because of worries that a long-term spike could exhaust households’ ability to spend, grind down the global economy and push interest rates higher.

A barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 4.2% to $84.75 That’s up from close to $70 late last week. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude climbed 6.9% to $79.80.

Oil prices rose after Iran launched a new wave of attacks against Israel, American bases and countries around the region. The war's escalations are raising worries about how long disruptions will last for the production and transport of oil and natural gas in the region.

Prices at U.S. gasoline pumps have already jumped because of them. The average price for a gallon is $3.25, up 9% from $2.98 a week ago, according to auto club AAA.

To be sure, the U.S. stock market has a history of bouncing back relatively quickly following conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere. That has many professional investors suggesting patience and riding through the market’s swings.

“While further escalation remains a risk, we think the more likely outcome is an increase in market risk aversion that likely lasts only a short time until investors can see a winding down of hostilities,” according to Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

But if oil prices spike, like to $100 per barrel, and stay there, it could be too much for the global economy to withstand. Uncertainty about that has caused this week’s sharp swings, and much will depend on what happens with the Strait of Hormuz. Roughly a fifth of the world’s oil typically sails through the narrow waterway off Iran's coast.

Stocks of retailers fell to some of the U.S. market's worst losses on Thursday. High gasoline prices mean their customers would have less to spend on other things.

American Eagle Outfitters fell 13.7% even though it reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Airlines also took sharp losses. Higher oil prices are increasing their already big fuel bills, while the war has left hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded across the Middle East.

American Airlines lost 7%, United Airlines fell 6.5% and Delta Air Lines sank 5.3%.

Stocks of smaller companies, meanwhile, took the heaviest losses. That's typical when worries are growing about the strength of the economy and about interest rates rising. The Russell 2000 index of the smallest stocks fell 2.7%.

Wall Street's drop would have been worse if not for Broadcom. The chip company’s stock rose 2.9% after it reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It’s one of Wall Street’s most influential stocks because it’s one of the biggest by total value, and CEO Hock Tan said it benefited from a 74% jump in revenue for AI chips.

In the bond market, Treasury yields climbed as rising oil prices put more upward pressure on inflation, which could keep the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.14% from 4.09% late Wednesday and from just 3.97% before the war with Iran started.

The Fed could keep interest rates high to keep a lid on inflation. But high interest rates would also keep it more expensive for U.S. households and companies to borrow money, grinding down on the economy.

The central bank had indicated it planned to resume its cuts to interest rates later this year, in hopes of giving a boost to the job market and economy. Because of the war and higher oil prices, traders have pushed their forecasts further into the summer for when the Fed could begin cutting rates again.

Several reports on the U.S. economy also came in mixed.

One said fewer U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. That's an encouraging signal for the job market.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rebounded in Asia following historic losses a day before. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 9.6% to recover much of its 12.1% plunge from Wednesday, which was its worst drop ever.

But indexes fell in Europe as oil prices began to accelerate. France’s CAC 40 fell 1.5%, and Germany’s DAX lost 1.6%.

AP Writers Kim Tong-hyung and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Anthony Matesic works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

John Bishop works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters, in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Ed Nangle works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Financial information is displayed on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)