Follow live updates and the latest news coverage as the U.S. and Israel strike Iran, Tehran hits back across the Gulf and Americans are stranded in the Middle East.

Huge traffic jams form after the unprecedented warning for people to leave the Hezbollah stronghold, as Israel steps up its strikes across Lebanon.

In recent days, the Israeli military has issued broad evacuation warnings across southern Lebanon, raising concerns that it may be about to launch a ground invasion. The Israeli military has also pushed into Lebanon to fight Hezbollah and is massing armored vehicles along the border.

Israel orders residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate, and the move sets off panic and gridlock across the capital.

Lebanese state media said early Friday that at least six Israeli airstrikes have hit Beirut’s southern suburbs. The strikes came after the Israeli army said late Thursday that it had begun targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in the Dahiyeh area of Beirut.

The Israeli military said it pounded Hezbollah targets in the densely populated southern suburbs of Beirut early Friday while also pummeling Tehran, after the U.S. military said i

Israeli strikes have hit the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, state-run media have said, as Israel’s deadline for Iranian officials to leave Lebanon expired, as it bombards the south and entrenches troops on the ground across the border, a volatile front in the wider regional war.

Meanwhile, the UAE says it has issued an emergency alert, warning residents to seek shelter. Earlier, the country said it had intercepted Iranian missiles and drones.