BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct 4, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Israel's military said Thursday it had hit Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in the Lebanese capital Beirut, as troops battled militants near the border and warplanes bombarded their strongholds around the country.

Israel announced this week that its troops had started "ground raids" into parts of southern Lebanon, a stronghold of Hezbollah, after days of heavy bombardment of areas across the country where the group holds sway.

The bombing has killed more than 1,000 people, according to Lebanon's health ministry, and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in a country already mired in economic and political crisis.

Israel, at war in Gaza since Hamas's October 7 attack, has expanded its focus to secure its northern border and ensure the safe return of more than 60,000 people displaced by Hezbollah attacks over the past year.

On the Gaza front, the Israeli military said a strike three months ago killed three senior Hamas leaders, including Rawhi Mushtaha, the head of the militant movement's government in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

Meanwhile, a source within the Palestinian security services told AFP that an air raid on the refugee camp of Tulkarm, killing 18 people, was the deadliest in the occupied West Bank since 2000.

The Israeli military said its strike in the northern West Bank killed Hamas leader Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi, who it accused of participating in numerous attacks.

In Lebanon, the Israeli military said it hit "targets belonging to Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in Beirut".

US news site Axios cited three unidentified Israeli officials naming the target of the attack as Hashem Safieddine, a potential successor as Hezbollah chief to Hassan Nasrallah who was killed a week ago. The Israeli military did not confirm the report when questioned by AFP.

A source close to Hezbollah told AFP Israel had conducted 11 consecutive strikes on the group's south Beirut stronghold late Thursday. Sources had earlier said another Israeli strike had targeted a warehouse next to Beirut airport.

Israel told Lebanese people to "immediately" evacuate more than 20 villages and the city of Nabatiyeh.

- Central Beirut strike –

Hezbollah said it fought off a bid by Israeli troops to advance at Fatima's Gate on the border.

It also said it set off two explosive devices against advancing Israeli forces as it kept up its cross-border rocket fire.

The military said an overnight strike killed 15 Hezbollah fighters in Bint Jbeil, an area heavily damaged during Israel's last war with the militant group in 2006.

Later the Lebanese army said one of its soldiers was killed when "the Israeli enemy targeted an army post in the Bint Jbeil area" -- the third death among its troops in the current escalation -- prompting retaliatory fire.

A Lebanese military official said it was the army's first response to Israeli fire since Hezbollah and Israel began hostilities last October.

Israel earlier carried out a deadly air raid in downtown Beirut, hitting an emergency services facility run by Hezbollah and killing seven workers, the service said.

Hassan Ammar, 82, who had been staying in the high-rise building whose walls were partly blown out by the strike after he fled south Lebanon, said: "We are peaceful civilians in our homes."

Israel said it had hit about 200 Hezbollah targets "in Lebanese territory".

Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said more than 40 paramedics and firefighters have been killed by Israeli fire in three days.

- Biden comments spook markets –

The latest strikes came after Hezbollah-backer Iran launched its second direct missile attack on Israel.

As Israel weighs retaliation for the Iranian missile strike, President Joe Biden said the United States was "discussing" possible Israeli strikes on Iranian oil facilities, in comments that sent oil prices spiking five percent.

Iran, which arms and funds Lebanon's Hezbollah, said it would step up its response if Israel counterattacked.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is expected to elaborate on Iran's thinking in a sermon at the main weekly Muslim prayers in Tehran on Friday, his first in nearly five years.

Israel's ground operations and strikes follow the killing in a massive bombing in south Beirut of Nasrallah and other commanders.

Israel intercepted most of the 200 missiles launched by Iran. In the West Bank, a Palestinian was killed by shrapnel.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that "those who attack the state of Israel, pay a heavy price".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said its missiles were fired in retaliation for Nasrallah's killing alongside that of a general in the Guards' Quds force, as well as for the killing in July of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Lebanon's health ministry said early Friday 37 people were killed and 151 wounded by Israeli strikes over the previous 24 hours.

The Israeli military said nine of its soldiers have been killed in combat in Lebanon.

- Syria strike –

The impact of the war was also felt in Syria, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor saying an Israeli strike in Damascus killed four people, including Hassan Jaafar al-Qasir, Nasrallah's son-in-law.

Iranian media said a Revolutionary Guards military "adviser" in Syria, Majid Divani, succumbed Thursday to wounds sustained in an Israeli strike on Damascus earlier this week.

In Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv, Liron Yori, 22, said he was worried about "where the war's going and I don't feel comfortable with it".

The fighting comes with many Israelis observing Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, on Thursday.

Calls for restraint have multiplied but months of similar calls for Gaza failed to bring a ceasefire.

Hezbollah began strikes on Israeli troops a day after Hamas staged its October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 41,788 people, the majority of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable.

The ministry toll Thursday included 99 fatalities over the past 24 hours.