On Monday morning, tens of thousands of Lebanese people received Israeli warnings via their phones: The situation is dangerous – seek shelter immediately.
Those who managed to obey the order left their homes as quickly as possible.
No one had expected such an unexpected escalation to reach villages considered safe, which had not been bombed in previous wars, says journalist Nazir Reda to AFP.
He says he left his children in their hometown of Babliyah because their school would remain open and the village would be safer than the capital city of Beirut.
Everyone is trying to get here with their children and belongings. It's the first time since 2006 we're seeing such panic, he says, referring to the Lebanon War that year, when Israel and Hezbollah fought a full-scale conflict for about a month.
Living in schools
The fleeing people are estimated to be in the tens of thousands, according to Health Minister Firass Abiad.
The UN refugee agency also confirms the extent of those leaving their homes and warns of the massive flight in Lebanon.
"We are deeply concerned about the serious escalation of attacks we saw yesterday," said UN agency spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh.
Moreover, refugees have started crossing the border into Syria, according to Syria's intelligence service.
About 500 people have crossed the border at Qusayr and Dabousiya during the night, says a representative of the security service.
Many lack friends and relatives to seek shelter with and instead find temporary housing in schools and universities that have been transformed into provisional shelters within a few hours.
In the coastal city of Sidon, hundreds are crammed into such a school.
This is all I managed to bring with me, says Ramziah Dawi to AP news agency, showing the few things she holds in her hands.
Demining organizations leaving the country
While the civilian population suffers, aid organizations are forced to withdraw. Norwegian People's Aid in Lebanon decided early in the day to close its office in Beirut and try to get its employees out of Lebanon.
These are dramatic hours for a population that has lived with war and conflict for a long time and now lives with constant war threats and uncertainty, says Secretary-General Raymond Johansen to NTB.
The organization has around 100 people on site, most of whom work on demining in southern Lebanon. The new bombings mean a huge setback for the demining work, says Johansen.
Now there are more bombs and explosives, he notes.
