UPDATE 3 - Israeli warplanes conduct heavy strike on Beirut's southern suburb

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By Said Amori and Mustafa Haboush

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli army claimed it struck Hezbollah’s weapons underneath civilian buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs in violent airstrikes overnight Friday.

The Lebanese group, however, denied the allegations that weapons were stored in civilian buildings that were targeted.

The Anadolu correspondent said warplanes carried out more than 40 violent and successive strikes since late Friday that caused extensive fires and significant destruction in multiple areas in an unprecedented attack since Israel’s war on Lebanon in 2006.

Fires have been raging for hours in Bir Hassan of Mount Lebanon in Beirut's southern suburb from an airstrike targeting a building, the correspondent added.

The Israeli army said warplanes attacked new Hezbollah targets in Beirut.

The army earlier targeted buildings in the areas of Kafaat, Choueifat, Hadath and Laylaki, according to the correspondent, and claimed the air force carried out strikes on the southern city of Tyre and the eastern Lebanese Bekaa region, indicating it struck Hezbollah targets.

Israeli jets conducted heavy strikes late Friday on Beirut's southern suburbs, claiming to hit the main headquarters of Hezbollah.

Following the airstrikes, Israeli media said the army was verifying if Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was inside the targeted area.

Lebanon's Health Ministry reported that six people were killed and 91 injured in the strikes.

Hezbollah has yet to comment on the attack.

Israel has pounded Lebanon since early Monday with strikes that have killed more than 700 victims and injured nearly 2,200, according to figures released by the Lebanese Health Ministry.​​​​​​​

The ministry also said that the death toll in Lebanon since last October is 1,540, in addition to the more than 77,000 displaced from the southern and eastern parts of the country.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's onslaught in the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 41,500 victims, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by Hamas last Oct. 7.

The international community has warned against the strikes on Lebanon, as they raise the specter of turning the Gaza conflict into a regional war.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar and Rania Abu Shamala