By Laila Bassam and Mohamed Azakir
BEIRUT, March 18 (Reuters) - Israeli airstrikes in Beirut killed at least six people on Wednesday, the Lebanese health ministry said, shaking the heart of the Lebanese capital as Israel intensified its offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
Israeli airstrikes also targeted the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, where Reuters footage showed explosions lighting up the night sky.
While most Israeli strikes in the Beirut area have focused on the southern suburbs, Israel has also launched several attacks in central parts of the capital since Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East conflict on March 2.
An airstrike around 1:30 a.m. (2330 GMT) destroyed several floors of an apartment block in Beirut's Zuqaq al-Blat district, while a strike in the nearby Basta district damaged at least two floors of a building.
Later, at approximately 5:30 a.m. (0330 GMT), a more powerful strike destroyed an entire building in the Bachoura neighborhood—an area close to downtown Beirut that was also targeted by Israel last week.
Israeli Warning
Before the Bachoura strike, the Israeli military issued a warning on social media highlighting a building and stating its intention to act against what it described as a Hezbollah facility in the area. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the Bachoura strike.
No warning was given prior to the strikes in Zuqaq al-Blat and Basta, where the Lebanese health ministry reported six people killed and 24 wounded.
The Israeli military also conducted airstrikes last week in the Bachoura and Zuqaq al-Blat neighborhoods, both near the Lebanese government headquarters in downtown Beirut.
Since Hezbollah entered the regional conflict in support of Tehran on March 2, more than 900 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli attacks, and over 1 million have been displaced, according to Lebanese authorities.
There have been no reported fatalities in Israel from Hezbollah's rocket and drone attacks, while the Israeli military has confirmed that two of its soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon during the offensive.
Israel also carried out deadly airstrikes in eastern and southern Lebanon—areas under Hezbollah influence that have faced heavy bombardment since March 2.
Four people were killed in an airstrike on the city of Baalbeck in eastern Lebanon. In the south, 10 people were killed in airstrikes across three different locations, the state news agency reported, citing the health ministry.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam, Tom Perry, Ahmed Kerdi, and Mohamed Azakir in Beirut; Enas Alashray in Cairo; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Jamie Freed, Kevin Buckland, Michael Perry, and Lincoln Feast.)
