Star Metro - Israel strikes Beirut southern suburbs after Hezbollah launches

Israel and Hezbollah regularly exchange fire but the area on the south of the capital -- including districts seen as bastions of the Iran-backed group -- has been relatively spared, having been struck only twice since mid-April.

Israel later issued an evacuation warning for most of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre and its surroundings, a more frequent site of strikes.

"In accordance with the directives of Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Katz, the Israel Defence Forces have just struck a militant command centre in Beirut's Dahiyeh district, in response to Hezbollah's fire towards Israeli territory," Netanyahu's office said.

The strikes "targeted two apartments in two buildings" according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA).

An AFP photographer saw two apartments damaged in a building on a narrow street, and traffic congestion as residents tried to leave the suburb while the Lebanese army deployed to the area.

Earlier this week in Washington, Lebanese and Israeli envoys touted a conditional truce that would have required Hezbollah to stop firing, withdraw from near the Israeli border and would see Lebanon's army deploy to new "pilot zones" in the area, where it would exercise exclusive control.

But Hezbollah rejected the agreement, demanding a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory, and Israel warned it would strike Beirut's southern suburbs should Hezbollah attack northern Israel.

Sirens sounded in northern Israel earlier on Sunday, with the military saying "two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory were intercepted".

It later said it "dismantled the launchers used by Hezbollah terrorists to carry out the attack".

There was no immediate comment from the Iran-backed group, which claimed separate attacks against Israeli troops in Lebanon on Sunday.

- Ceasefire -

A ceasefire that was supposed to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on April 17, but has never been fully respected.

Hezbollah and Israel have frequently exchanged accusations of truce violations, with each side justifying its own attacks by citing alleged violations committed by the other side.

Israel has continued bombing its northern neighbour despite the truce, and Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported a series of Israeli strikes across the south, some of them deadly.

Sunday's attacks come a day after at least five people were killed in Israeli strikes according to Lebanese authorities, including Lebanese army personnel, one of them a general.

- Tyre warning -

On Sunday, the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for most of Tyre and its surroundings.

The coastal city shelters thousands of displaced people and has been heavily bombed since Hezbollah drew Lebanon intro the Middle East war in support of Iran on March 2.

Civil defence teams evacuated around 500 families from schools that had been converted into shelters and transferred them to the city's Christian quarter, which was not included in the warning, an AFP correspondent said.

Near Sidon, a bit further north, three members of the same family and a rescue worker killed in an Israeli airstrike were buried on Sunday.

At least 131 rescuers were killed by Israel in this war, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

"We do not carry rockets, our only weapon is the bread we deliver to people. They went and gave the family bread, but as they were leaving, a drone struck them," rescuer Qassem Foani told AFP.

Israel's extensive campaign of airstrikes and a ground invasion have killed more than 3,600 people, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

W.Richard--SMC