Lebanon says Israeli strike on central Beirut kills five

Lebanon's health ministry said Israel struck a densely packed Beirut neighbourhood, killing at least five people, in the third attack in two days on the city's central districts.

"The Israeli enemy strike on Zuqaq al-Blat in Beirut killed four people and injured 18," a ministry statement said in preliminary toll.

The official National News Agency (NNA) said an apartment near a Shiite Muslim place of worship had been targeted.

"A hostile drone targeted a residential apartment behind the Husseiniya of Zuqaq al-Blat in the capital Beirut, causing great damage," the NNA said.

An AFP correspondent in the area heard two blasts, and said the raid badly damaged the ground floor of a building.

Reporters elsewhere in the city heard ambulance sirens.

The densely populated working class district of Zuqaq al-Blat has welcomed many displaced people who fled Israeli strikes on south and east Lebanon, as well as south Beirut - areas where the Iran-backed Hezbollah holds sway.

The strike hit near a building housing many displaced Lebanese, the AFP correspondent said.

It was cordoned off by security forces as residents rushed to help in the rescue efforts, he added.

Several hundreds of metres (yards) away was the site of a similar strike on Sunday, in the Mar Elias neighbourhood, which the Lebanese health ministry said killed three people including a woman.

Israel has not commented on the latest strikes in central Beirut, but confirmed one air raid in the area the killed Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif.

The strike, which happened yesterday, hit the Lebanese office of the Syrian Baath party, killing Afif and four other members of his media team, Hezbollah said, with the health ministry saying seven people had been killed in total.

Since 23 September, Israel has ramped up its air campaign in Lebanon, later sending in ground troops following almost a year of cross-border exchanges begun by Hezbollah over the Gaza war.

Lebanese authorities say more than 3,510 people have been killed since Hezbollah-Israel clashes began in October last year, with most casualties recorded since war erupted in September.

US envoy to hold ceasefire talks in Beirut

Meanwhile, US envoy Amos Hochstein will travel to Beirut tomorrow for talks on a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, a Lebanese political source has said.

Lebanese media outlet Voice of Lebanon also reported the visit, quoting Lebanese member of parliament Kassem Hashem.

The US has submitted a new truce proposal to the Lebanese state in the hopes of putting a halt to more than a year of fighting.

The United Nations force in south Lebanon said peacekeepers were fired upon around 40 times on Saturday, probably by "non-state actor" individuals who tried to prevent a patrol from passing. No injuries were reported.

Several Israeli strikes in recent weeks on Baalbek in east Lebanon and Tyre in the south - both Hezbollah strongholds - hit close to ancient Roman ruins designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

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Archaeologists and academics were among 300 prominent cultural figures who signed a petition, published yesterday, calling on the United Nations to safeguard Lebanon's heritage and establish "no-target zones".

Israeli strikes in the Tyre region killed 11 people and wounded 48, the Lebanese health ministry said.

Lebanese authorities say more than 3,480 people have been killed since October last year, with most casualties recorded since September.

Israel says 48 soldiers have been killed fighting Hezbollah.