Israeli air strikes kill 31 in Lebanon as leaders draw closer to a ceasefire

The attacks came as Israeli leaders appeared to be closing in on a negotiated ceasefire with the Hezbollah militant group.

Israeli strikes hit commercial and residential buildings in Beirut, as well as the port city of Tyre.

Military officials said they targeted areas known as Hezbollah strongholds.

They issued evacuation orders for Beirut’s southern suburbs, and strikes landed across the city, including meters from a Lebanese police base and the city’s largest public park.

The barrage came as officials indicated they were nearing agreement on a ceasefire, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Security Cabinet prepared to discuss an offer on the table.

Massive explosions lit up Lebanon’s skies with flashes of orange, sending towering plumes of smoke into the air as Israeli airstrikes pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The blasts damaged buildings and left shattered glass and debris scattered across nearby streets.

No casualties were reported after many residents fled the targeted sites.

Some of the strikes landed close to central Beirut and near Christian neighbourhoods and other targets where Israel had issued evacuation warnings, including in Tyre and Nabatiyeh province.

Israeli airstrikes also hit the northeast Baalbek-Hermel region without warning.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that 26 people were killed in southern Lebanon, four in the eastern Baalbek-Hermel province and one in Choueifat, a neighbourhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs that was not subjected to evacuation warnings on Monday.

The deaths brought the total toll to 3,768 killed in Lebanon throughout 13 months of war between Israel and Hezbollah and nearly two months since Israel launched its ground invasion.

Many of those killed since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah have been civilians, and health officials said some of the recovered bodies were so severely damaged that DNA testing would be required to confirm their identities.

Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says the war has displaced 1.2 million people.

Israeli ground forces invaded southern Lebanon in early October, meeting heavy resistance in a narrow strip of land along the border.

The military had previously exchanged attacks across the border with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group that began firing rockets into Israel the day after the war in Gaza began last year.

Lebanese politicians have decried the ongoing air strikes and said they are impeding US-led ceasefire negotiations.

The country’s deputy parliament speaker accused Israel of ramping up its bombardment to pressure Lebanon to make concessions in indirect ceasefire negotiations with Hezbollah.

Elias Bousaab, an ally of the militant group, said the pressure has increased because “we are close to the hour that is decisive regarding reaching a ceasefire.”