The Israeli military has attacked the Lebanese capital of Beirut's southern suburbs with airstrikes in one of its heaviest daytime attacks yet on the area, after Israel's defence minister ruled out a ceasefire until Israeli goals were met.
Smoke billowed over Beirut as around a dozen strikes hit the southern suburbs from mid-morning on Tuesday (local time), killing 12 people, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Beirut residents have largely fled the southern suburbs since Israel began bombing it in September.
After posting evacuation orders to civilians on social media, the Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah targets in Beirut's Dahiyeh area and later said it dismantled most of the group's weapons and missile facilities.
It said it had taken steps to reduce harm to civilians and repeated its standing accusation that Hezbollah deliberately embeds itself into civilian areas to use residents as human shields, a charge Hezbollah rejects.
In northern Israel, two people were killed in the city of Nahariya when a residential building was struck, Israeli police said.
Hezbollah later claimed responsibility for a drone attack that it said was aimed at a military base east of Nahariya.
Israelis were forced to take shelter from drone attacks across the north, the military said.
One hit the yard of a kindergarten in a Haifa suburb, where the children had been rushed into a shelter, rescue workers said. None were hurt.
Ignited by the Gaza war, the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah had been rumbling on for a year before Israel went on the offensive in September, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes and sending troops into the south.
Israel has dealt Hezbollah heavy blows, , flattening large areas of the southern suburbs, destroying border villages in the south, and striking more widely across Lebanon.
Since hostilities erupted a year ago, Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,287 people in Lebanon, the majority in the last seven weeks, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Hezbollah attacks have killed about 100 civilians and soldiers in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon over the last year.
New Israeli defence minister dismisses Lebanon ceasefire
Israel's new defence minister, Israel Katz, said on Monday there would be no ceasefire in Lebanon until Israel achieves its goals.
"Israel will not agree to any arrangement that does not guarantee Israel's right to enforce and prevent terrorism on its own and meet the goals of the war in Lebanon — disarming Hezbollah and its withdrawal beyond the Litani River and returning the residents of the north safely to their homes," he said.
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar had said earlier on Monday there had been "a certain progress" in ceasefire talks but the main challenge facing any ceasefire deal would be enforcement.
The Lebanese government, which includes Hezbollah, has repeatedly called for a ceasefire based on the full implementation of a United Nations resolution that ended a war between the group and Israel in 2006.
