An AFP correspondent saw a column of smoke rising from the Jnah district after three large explosions were heard across the city and saw ambulances headed towards the site.

Local media footage showed several cars burning after the strikes in front of a building under construction.

State media also reported that an Israeli airstrike hit a car on a key road south of Beirut.

"The correspondent of the National News Agency reported that a car on the Khalde highway was targeted by more than one missile fired from a hostile Israeli drone," it said.