Israeli air strikes hit building in heart of Beirut

Smoke rises from a Beirut building after an Israeli strike
The Israeli army issued a warning before striking a building in Lebanon's capital Beirut -AP

Israeli air strikes have hit a building ‌in the heart of Beirut and Israel has ordered residents out of ‌another swathe of southern Lebanon, intensifying its offensive against the Iran-aligned Hezbollah group.

The air strike at 5.30pm hit a building in the Bachoura neighbourhood, about 1km from the Lebanese government's Grand Serail headquarters in downtown Beirut.

Before the ‌strike, the Israeli ‌military issued ⁠a warning telling residents they were near a Hezbollah ​facility against which it intended to strike.

Israel launched an air and ground offensive last week against Hezbollah, which launched attacks at Israel on March 2 that it said aimed to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader at the start ⁠of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Hezbollah ‌has ​fired rockets and drones at Israel every day since, including its largest ​barrage late on ‌Wednesday that triggered heavy Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs.

Israel has pounded ​Lebanon's south and east and the capital's southern suburbs, killing more than 600 people, according to Lebanese authorities.

It has also ordered ​mass evacuations ​in those same areas, pushing ​more than 800,000 people out of their ‌homes.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military had been instructed to expand its operations in Lebanon.

"We promised quiet and security to the communities of the (Israeli) north, and that is exactly what we will deliver," he said ​at a meeting with senior military officials.