Israeli warplanes launched heavy waves of raids on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday night and Saturday morning, hours after an attack that the Israeli military said targeted the Secretary-General of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah.

Al Jazeera reported that Israeli warplanes launched more than 30 raids on the southern suburb. The successive raids targeted buildings in the areas of Al-Kafaat, Al-Shuwaifat, Al-Hadath and Al-Laylaki in the suburb.

Live images showed fires breaking out in a number of targeted buildings.

A security source said that Israeli aircraft fired more than one guided missile at the Al-Laylaki area.

For its part, the Israeli army said it bombed dozens of rocket launchers and weapons depots in the southern suburb.

He added that the raids target "Hezbollah's combat equipment under civilian buildings in the southern suburb," according to his allegations.

The Israeli army also said it was attacking what it described as Hezbollah's strategic targets in Beirut, noting that it was targeting "weapons manufacturing sites, buildings containing advanced combat equipment, and the party's main headquarters."

Denying Israeli allegations

Hezbollah denied Israel's allegations that there were weapons depots in the buildings that were bombed in the southern suburb.

He said in a statement that "there is no truth to the false claims of the Zionist enemy about the presence of weapons or weapons stores in the civilian buildings that it targeted with shelling in the southern suburb a short while ago."

Earlier, the Israeli army spokesman said that a warning was issued to residents of buildings in the southern suburb, and specifically in the Hadath area, to evacuate them before they were bombed.

The spokesman also stated that Israel would not allow the transfer of weapons through Beirut's civilian airport, he claimed.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced "the martyrdom of 6 people and the injury of 91 others in the Israeli enemy's raids on the southern suburb."

Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that the Israeli bombing caused great destruction in the middle of Haret Hreik in the southern suburb, leveling 4 buildings to the ground.

Israeli security estimates indicate that about 300 people were killed in the attack on the southern suburb, according to Haaretz.

Lebanese Transport Minister Ali Hamieh responded by saying that Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport is a “civilian airport par excellence.”

He added that any landing of military aircraft at the airport is subject to the approval of the Lebanese Army.

In addition to the successive raids on the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Israeli air force launched a series of raids on several areas in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, according to what Al Jazeera's correspondent reported.

The Israeli army also announced that it launched a wave of raids on Hezbollah targets in Tyre, southern Lebanon.

Targeting Nasrallah

These successive raids come after the devastating attack carried out by the Israeli army in the heart of Haret Hreik in the middle of the southern suburb on Friday evening, which it said targeted Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah during a meeting at the party's central command headquarters.