A source close to Hezbollah said Israel had conducted 11 consecutive strikes on south Beirut suburbs late Thursday, in one of the most violent raids since Israel intensified its bombardment campaign last week.
AFP correspondents in the capital and beyond heard loud bangs that made car alarms go off and building shake.
About an hour later, AFP journalists heard several explosions coming from the direction of the southern suburbs after the Israeli military ordered residents of the Hadath neighbourhood to evacuate.
"Israel struck the southern suburbs 11 consecutive times," the source said on the condition of anonymity.
AFP footage showed giant balls of flame rising from the targeted site with thick smoke billowing and flares shooting out.
Al Jazeera reported that the latest strikes in Beirut were significantly larger and louder than those targeting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week, according to their correspondent on the ground.
The strikes reportedly hit and completely flattened several residential buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been the focal point of Israel’s nightly bombings on the Lebanese capital.
Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said "more than 10 consecutive strikes have been recorded so far, in one of the strongest raids on the southern suburbs of Beirut since the start of the Israeli war on Lebanon".
The strikes echoed to mountain regions outside Beirut, the NNA said.
Earlier Thursday, the NNA had reported several "enemy raids".
A source close to the group had told AFP that the earlier strikes had "targeted a building housing Hezbollah's media relations office", which had already been evacuated.