BEIRUT 

The Israeli army on Wednesday destroyed several homes in morning airstrikes on settlements in southern Lebanon, along with airstrikes on a southern suburb of the capital Beirut.

An Anadolu correspondent said Israeli fighter jets struck Choueifat, southeast of Beirut.

According to the official Lebanese National News Agency, the Israeli warplanes destroyed a home in the town of Deir Qanoun and a building in the coastal city of Tyre.

In the Nabatieh district in southern Lebanon, Israeli warplanes destroyed a number of homes in the town of Maifadoun.

Israeli fighter jets also carried out raids on the towns of Khiyam and Kfar Kela in parallel with heavy artillery shelling.

The Israeli army earlier Wednesday ordered the residents of 24 towns and villages in southern Lebanon to immediately leave their homes, claiming that Hezbollah fighters and weapons were present in the area.

In response to the Israeli attacks, the Lebanese Hezbollah group announced Wednesday that it targeted Israeli army soldiers, sites and artillery bunkers in at least five areas in northern Israel.

Since Sept. 23, Israel has launched massive airstrikes against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, killing more than 1,000 people and injuring over 2,950 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

The top leadership of Hezbollah was killed in the Israeli assaults, including its leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,600 people, most of them women and children, following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October.

​​​​​​​The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara