BEIRUT: Lebanon said Israel struck central Beirut early Wednesday without warning, killing at least 12 people, as the Israeli military announced it was targeting the country's south.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israel in response to US-Israeli strikes that killed Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel has responded with intense strikes in multiple Lebanese regions and ground operations in the south, and has hit central Beirut several times, with and without warning.
Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said a strike in the early hours of Wednesday hit an apartment in the central Zuqaq al-Blat neighbourhood, a densely populated area close to the government's headquarters and several embassies.
It said the strike occurred near where the Israeli military last week hit a Beirut branch of the Hezbollah-linked financial firm Al-Qard Al-Hassan.
In last week's strike, the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning in advance, but no such warning was given before the latest raid.
The NNA said two other strikes targeted two apartments in the central Basta district, another densely populated area that Israel struck during a 2024 war with Hezbollah.
An AFP correspondent saw first responders at the scene in Basta where the walls of apartments on two adjacent floors appeared to have been blasted off.
Lebanon's health ministry reported a preliminary toll for both strikes of 12 dead and 41 wounded. Human remains at the scenes would require DNA testing to determine their identity, the ministry added.
Panic after warning
The NNA later said that a building in central Beirut's Bashoura neighbourhood was hit after an evacuation warning, as AFP correspondents heard a blast and AFPTV footage showed smoke billowing from the area.
A map shared by the Israeli military indicated the target building was already struck last week also after an evacuation warning, causing damage but without destroying it.
The NNA also reported strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold which Israel has pounded in recent weeks.
Also early Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had "begun striking Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon" including in the Tyre area, where the NNA reported at least four strikes including on a house.
The Israeli military issued another warning on Wednesday, signaling imminent strikes on four towns in the Tyre area and near the border.
Late Tuesday, Israel's army had issued an evacuation order for most of the southern city of Tyre as well as swathes of surrounding areas, saying it planned to "act forcefully" against Hezbollah.
Bilal Kashmar, media coordinator for Tyre's disaster management unit, told AFP there was panic after the warning.
Many families remained put, including in several Palestinian refugee camps, despite previous Israeli army evacuation calls for swathes of south Lebanon, he said, while around 11,000 displaced people have taken refuge in the area.
On Tuesday, the health ministry reported four dead in a strike in the eastern city of Baalbek, and four Syrians dead in a strike on Jibsheet in the country's south.
The NNA said a strike on the southern town of Habboush killed at least three people.
Israel said late Tuesday it struck Hezbollah sites "throughout Lebanon" after a series of air raid sirens in northern Israel, with Hezbollah saying it had launched a wave of attacks.
According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli strikes have killed at least 912 people since March 2, while more than one million people have registered as displaced, with more than 130,000 staying in official shelters.
