"People are trying to get out of here any way they can," said Mohammad Assif, who escorted his mother up to the mountains. Assif said that one of his cousins had been killed in one of the bombings on the south Wednesday night, and that the family had collectively decided to head out to safety. "Hezbollah is concentrated here, so this going to be where they hit," he said. "They hit al Manar near our house - who knows what comes next." Hordes of tourists, most of them from Arab countries, packed up their bags and milled about in hotel lobbies desperate for a way out. But with the country blockaded by sea and air, the sole exit was through the border with Syria, where traffic was backed up for miles by the middle of the day.
Hassan M. Fattah reported from Beirut.