Israel’s military said on Thursday it had hit Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in the Lebanese capital, as troops battled militants near the border and warplanes bombarded their strongholds around the country.
Israel announced this week that its troops had started “ground raids” into parts of southern Lebanon, a stronghold of Hezbollah, after days of heavy bombardment of areas across the country where the group holds sway.
The Israeli military said it hit “targets belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut”.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported three air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, with a source close to Hezbollah telling AFP the target was an evacuated building that housed the group’s media relations office.
Israel told Lebanese people to evacuate more than 20 villages and the city of Nabatiyeh.
“For your own safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and head north of the Awali River. Save your lives,” army spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.
Hezbollah said it fought off a bid by Israeli troops to advance at Fatima’s Gate on the border.
It also said it set off two explosive devices against advancing Israeli forces as it kept up its cross-border rocket fire.
The military said an overnight strike killed 15 Hezbollah fighters in Bint Jbeil, an area heavily damaged during Israel’s last war with the militant group in 2006.
Later the Lebanese army said one of its soldiers was killed when “the Israeli enemy targeted an army post in the Bint Jbeil area” — the third death among its troops in the current escalation — prompting retaliatory fire.
A Lebanese military official said it was the army’s first response to Israeli fire since last October.
Israel earlier carried out a deadly air raid in downtown Beirut, hitting an emergency services rescue facility run by Hezbollah, killing seven workers, the service said.
Hassan Ammar, 82, who had been staying in the high-rise building whose walls were partly blown out by the strike after he fled south Lebanon, said: “We are peaceful civilians in our homes.”
Israel has yet to comment on the strike, but said it had hit about 200 Hezbollah targets “in Lebanese territory”.
According to Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad, more than 40 rescuers and firefighters have been killed by Israeli fire in three days.