Parents raced to pick up their children from school in Beirut on Monday, as fear spread in the Lebanese capital that Israel might soon strike the city.

Amid warnings from Israel that it was intensifying strikes against the Lebanese militia Hezbollah and calls for residents to evacuate, Lebanon’s education ministry ordered the closing of some public and private schools, citing “security and military situations” that could endanger students.

The street outside one school in east Beirut on Monday morning was clogged with traffic. Dozens of secondary school students in light-blue polo shirts stood waiting to be picked up, while other students rushed out of the building, gripping their parents’ hands.

Joaelle Naser, 44, had come to pick up her three daughters, aged 6, 8 and 16. “I am scared, I’m scared,” Nasir said alongside her two youngest, their neat ponytails held in place with fuzzy rainbow-coloured scrunchies. “I’m not prepared for if something happens.”

Maria Karen, 15, was in maths class when she noticed parents walking through the halls with their children. When class ended, she said, the teacher told her and her classmates to pack their things, take their phones and go home. “I’m a little nervous, a lot of my friends are scared,” Maria said as she waited for her parents to come get her.

One of her close friends lives near Dahiya, a Hezbollah-dominated neighbourhood that was hit by an Israeli airstrike on Friday. Lebanese officials have said that at least 45 people were killed in the strike. Maria said that her friend, like many, feared that Dahiya might soon be hit again.

The bustle around the school stood in stark contrast to the scenes at cafés and shops in the neighbourhood. At one large coffee shop, a handful of employees sat idly under the shade of a large awning. The café would typically be packed around this time but “people are scared”, said a worker.

New York Times News Service