Local media reported one strike hit an apartment in the central Zuqaq al-Blat neighbourhood, where the Israeli military last week hit a Beirut branch of the Hezbollah-linked financial firm Al-Qard Al-Hassan.

The densely populated area is close to the government's headquarters and several embassies.

In last week's strike there, the Israeli military had released an evacuation warning in advance, but no such warning was issued before the latest raid.

According to media reports, another strike hit the central Basta district, another densely populated area where Israel had struck during a 2024 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lebanon's health ministry reported a preliminary toll for both strikes of six dead and 24 wounded.

Human remains at one of the scenes would require DNA testing to determine their identity, the ministry added.

AFP correspondents in Beirut heard the sound of several explosions early Wednesday, and Lebanese media also reported several strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of pro-Iran militant group Hezbollah.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israel in response to US-Israeli strikes that killed Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Israel has responded with intense strikes in multiple Lebanese regions and ground operations in the south, and has hit central Beirut several times, both with and without warning.

- Tyre warning -

Early Wednesday, Israel's army also warned it would strike a building in Aaqbiyeh, near the coastal city of Sidon.

Late Tuesday, Israel's army had issued an evacuation order for most of the southern city of Tyre as well as swathes of surrounding areas, saying it planned to "act forcefully" against Hezbollah.

Bilal Kashmar, media coordinator for Tyre's disaster management unit, told AFP there was panic after the warning.

Many families had remained, including in several Palestinian refugee camps, despite previous Israeli army evacuation calls for swathes of south Lebanon, he said, while some 11,000 displaced people have taken refuge in the area.

On Tuesday, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported Israeli strikes on various locations in the country.

The health ministry reported four dead in a strike in the eastern city of Baalbek, and four Syrians dead in a strike on Jibsheet in the south.

Israel said late Tuesday it had struck sites "throughout Lebanon", targeting what it called Hezbollah rocket launching infrastructure that followed a series of air raid sirens in northern Israel, with Hezbollah saying it had launched a wave of attacks.

According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli strikes have killed 912 people since March 2, while more than one million people have registered as displaced, with more than 130,000 staying in official shelters.

Israel's military on Tuesday renewed its call for residents to evacuate a region stretching more than 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Lebanon-Israel border, a day after announcing "limited" ground operations were underway in the south.