Zürcher Nachrichten - Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit central Beirut

Israel has repeatedly pounded southern Beirut suburbs, the bastion of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, for more than two weeks but strikes have rarely hit in the city's centre.

"The Israeli enemy launched a strike in Beirut, targeting a building near the Khatam al-Anbiya complex in Nweiri, with another strike targeting the Ras al-Nabaa area near the al-Amiliyah building," the National News Agency said.

It earlier said ambulances had rushed to the targeted sites.

An AFP journalist in Beirut heard three loud explosions.

AFP live footage showed two plumes of smoke billowing in between densely-packed buildings where lights were still on in the windows.

Earlier this month, Israel carried out a deadly air raid in Beirut, hitting an emergency services rescue facility run by Hezbollah, killing seven workers, the service said.

On September 30, an Israeli drone strike on a building in Beirut's busy Cola district killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the leftist armed group said.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and its foe Israel have been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire for nearly a year in fallout from the Gaza war.

But since September 23, Israel has escalated its air strikes on targets in Lebanon, killing more than 1,200 people and forced more than one million to flee their homes, according to official figures.

S.Scheidegger--NZN