ISTANBUL

The Israeli army said Thursday that its warplanes have begun “wide-scale” strikes across southern Lebanon and the capital Beirut as it escalates its offensive against the country.

A military statement claimed the attacks are targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in the country.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli warplanes struck a building in the Bachoura area in central Beirut.

Thick plumes of smoke were seen rising over the neighborhood after the strike.

The Israeli army had earlier warned residents in Bachoura to evacuate a building and nearby structures ahead of the attack.

It was the first evacuation warning issued by the Israeli military to residents of Bachoura since the start of the current Israeli offensive on Lebanon on March 2, although the area had been targeted during Israel’s war on Lebanon in 2024.

Lebanese media also reported that Israeli warplanes carried out two additional airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, according to NNA.

In another attack, Israeli warplanes targeted a building in the Zuqaq al-Blat neighborhood in the Lebanese capital after a prior evacuation warning, according to the agency.

On March 2, the Lebanese group Hezbollah began attacking Israeli military sites in response to repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon and the killing of Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli strike.

Israel retaliated by launching a military campaign on Lebanon, carrying out airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs and areas in the south and east of the country, and on March 3 began a limited ground incursion in southern Lebanon.

The attacks have resulted in 687 deaths, including 98 children, and 1,774 injuries, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry