Israeli strikes hit Hezbollah targets in Beirut
Video showed an area in Beirut destroyed by the impact of an Israeli strike, as fears of a full-fledged war in the Middle East mounted.
Rescue workers could be seen alongside bulldozers ready to clear away the rubble. Civilians stood surrounded by severely damaged buildings.
A strike on a Beirut suburb killed a Hezbollah commander who was a leading figure in its rocket division, two security sources in Lebanon said.
The sources identified the commander who was killed as Ibrahim Qubaisi. The attack, in which six people were killed, dealt another blow to the Hezbollah group which has faced a series of setbacks at the hands of Israel over the past week.
The pressure on Hezbollah has increased fears that nearly a year of conflict will explode and destabilize the oil-producing Middle East, where a conflict between Hamas and Israel is already raging in Gaza with no end in sight.
Israel struck the Hezbollah-controlled area of the Lebanese capital for a second consecutive day after mounting a new wave of airstrikes on targets in Lebanon. Hezbollah said it had fired rockets into northern Israel.
A local municipal storage facility in the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona was heavily damaged as Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah exchanged fire.
Firefighters were rushed to the scene to extinguish the fire that broke out on the site, according to Israeli media. Police said no casualties were reported.
Israeli forces struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, while the Hezbollah group attacked military facilities in northern Israel.
The intensifying exchanges have increased fears of a full-blown conflict after Lebanon suffered its deadliest day in decades.
Tens of thousands more have fled for safety.
Hezbollah said it targeted several Israeli military targets overnight including an explosives factory 60 km into Israel, which it attacked with Fadi rockets.
It said it had also attacked the Megiddo airfield near the northern Israeli town of Afula three separate times.
