Israel strikes south Beirut

Lebanon's official National News Agency reported three raids "within the third round of strikes on the southern suburbs today", saying they hit the Haret Hreik and Hadath areas.

It had earlier reported two other rounds of three raids each on the southern suburbs, including a "very violent strike" on Haret Hreik and a raid on the Kafaat neighbourhood that destroyed a building and damaged others nearby.

AFPTV footage showed columns of smoke rising from the area, usually a densely populated residential district but now largely emptied.

Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee on social media platform X issued several rounds of evacuation warnings for areas in the southern suburbs, saying the military would target Hezbollah "facilities and interests", pinpointing six buildings.

The Israeli military in a statement said its air force carried out strikes on "Hezbollah command centers and terror infrastructure" in the southern suburbs, which it has hit repeatedly since September 23 when it escalated air raids against the Iran-backed group.

Hezbollah claimed a series of attacks on Israeli troops in south Lebanon and on military facilities across the border including a drone attack on the Haifa naval base, which it has repeatedly claimed strikes against.

The group also said its fighters "targeted... for the first time, the Hatzor air base" near the southern city of Ashdod, around 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Lebanon's southern border with Israel, "with a missile salvo".

Israeli first responders said a man was killed on Thursday after rocket fire from Lebanon hit the Galilee region in Israel's north.

The renewed Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs came after two days of relative calm in Beirut and its suburbs while US envoy Amos Hochstein visited, seeking to broker an end to the almost two-month-long Israel-Hezbollah war.

Hochstein was to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, the premier's office said.

The Israeli army also issued evacuation warnings for areas in and around the southern coastal city of Tyre, while the NNA reported Israeli strikes in south and east Lebanon.

Lebanon's health ministry said on Wednesday that at least 3,558 people had been killed in the violence since October 2023.

Most of the deaths have been since September this year, when Israel began its massive bombing campaign and later sent ground forces in to Lebanon.

The Israeli military said Wednesday that three soldiers, including a 70-year-old, were killed in south Lebanon, bringing to 52 the number killed in Lebanon since the start of ground operations.