Israeli airstrikes hit the southern suburbs of Beirut on Saturday, Lebanese state media said, shortly after Israel ordered residents to evacuate, marking the first attacks in three days on Hezbollah's main stronghold.
AFP footage showed plumes of smoke rising over the area, less than an hour after the Israeli military issued an evacuation order.
Lebanon's official National News Agency reported two Israeli strikes on the same building in the neighbourhood of Haret Hreik, and later added that "Israeli warplanes" had struck the Al-Umara neighbourhood in nearby Choueifat.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued an "urgent warning to residents of the southern suburb (of Dahiyeh), specifically those in... Haret Hreik neighbourhood".
He later also issued warnings for the Burj al-Barajneh and Choueifat neighbourhoods.
Thick smoke billows over buildings following an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Saturday. AFP
Displaced children stand next to makeshift shelters at a parking lot in downtown Beirut on Saturday. AFP
