BEIRUT, 07 March. - (ANA) - Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are reportedly fleeing Lebanon after the Beirut government banned activities by the group and Israel continued its onslaught on the country.

 

IRGC officers left the Lebanese capital in the past days, according to Axios, as Israel issued so-called evacuation orders for Shia-majority south Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut.

 

The onslaught on Lebanon began on Monday after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in response to the US-Israeli killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

 

Subsequent Israeli strikes across the country killing at least 217 people and injured 798 others.

 

Axios said that the IRGC officers, allegedly assisting Hezbollah, had fled these areas bombed by Israel, fearing they would be the next targets of Israeli airstrikes.

 

Israel said it killed an IRGC commander in Beirut this week and issued a warning to other members of the group to leave Lebanon within the next 24 hours or it will "target them wherever they are found".

 

Israel alleged that several dozen IRGC officers had fled Lebanon since the warning, and more are expected to do so in the coming days.

 

The New Arab cannot confirm the claims made by the Israeli sources to Axios, but it comes as the Lebanese government attempts to control the situation by cracking down on IRGC elements and reaching out to Western allies to pressure Israel to halt its offensive.

 

Thousands of people are fleeing southern Lebanon and the Beirut suburbs following the warning, one of the more dire humanitarian crises in the country for years, the latest in a series of disasters for the country caused by Israeli military action.

 

The Lebanese government said on Thursday that IRGC activities would be banned and ordered security forces to pursue any Iranian agents present in the country.

 

Information Minister Paul Morcos said he had instructed ministries and agencies to "intervene firmly and immediately to prevent any security or military activity they might carry out from Lebanese territory".

 

Beirut has also appealed to its close Western ally, France, to help end the bloodshed, with President Emmanuel Macron reportedly speaking to US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the crisis.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/07 March 2026 - - -