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.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.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.”Vehicles wait in traffic as people flee from Tyre, Lebanon, after Israel's evacuation warning on Tuesday.Mahmoud Zayyat / AFP via Getty ImagesThe 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 becau...