Nine people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a building in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, the country's health ministry said.
Since September, Israel has been attacking parts of Lebanon where the extremist organization Hezbollah is based, but it rarely strikes in the central part of Beirut.
There was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, and a building near the UN headquarters, the prime minister's office and the parliament was hit.
Hezbollah's civil defense unit said seven of its members were killed.
Israel, meanwhile, continues its ground offensive against Hezbollah and carries out airstrikes in Gaza that have killed dozens of people, including children.
Israel's military said eight of its soldiers were killed in clashes in southern Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire across the border with Lebanon almost daily since October 8 last year, a day after a Palestinian Hamas cross-border attack on southern Israeli territory killed around 1.200 people and kidnapped and took more than 250 hostages to Gaza.
More than 41.000 Palestinians have died in Gaza and more than half of the victims are women and children, according to health officials there.
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After the assassination of the Hezbollah leader in Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted that Israel had settled its scores, but earlier Israeli targeted killings cast doubt on what will actually change, writes AFP.
Israel bombed downtown Beirut early this morning, killing at least six people, Reuters reports.
Israel announced that it carried out a precision air strike on Beirut.
Reuters witnesses reported hearing a huge explosion, and the agency's security source said a building in the central Bachura district near the parliament was targeted.
At least six people were killed and seven wounded, Lebanese health officials said.
A photo circulated on Lebanese WhatsApp groups, which Reuters could not immediately verify, shows a badly damaged building with the first floor on fire.
Three missiles also hit the southern suburb of Dahiya, where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed last Sunday, and loud explosions were heard, Lebanese security officials said.
The southern suburbs were hit by dozens of Israeli strikes yesterday. The Israel Defense Forces have called on residents of Lebanese villages who have evacuated their homes not to return until further notice.
"The IDF raids continue," spokesman Avichaj Adrae said on IX.
Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi militant group said it carried out drone strikes on Israel's financial capital Tel Aviv.
"The operation successfully achieved its objectives with the arrival of the drones without the enemy detecting or shooting them down," said Jahja Sari, the group's military spokesman.
A day after Iran fired more than 180 missiles at Israel, Israel said yesterday that eight soldiers had been killed in ground fighting in southern Lebanon.
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