Israel to hold military exercise in north as several killed in morning air strikes on Lebanon

Casualties reported in Bekaa valley after night of intense Israeli attacks

Smoke rises over Beirut's southern suburbs after an Israeli air strike. Reuters

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The Israeli army will hold a military exercise near the Lebanese border on Monday, just hours after it launched widespread air strikes across Beirut's southern suburbs.

Residents may see a “lively movement” of tanks and soldiers near the coastal city of Nahariya, which has been targeted by Hezbollah rocket fire, the army said on X.

The army also said it would be testing alarm systems in several Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The exercise was announced hours after the Israeli air force launched a series of strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs in what the army said was an operation targeting branches of a Hezbollah-linked bank.

Eleven strikes hit the area, according to state media, including one close to the Lebanon's only airport.

Israel said the strikes were aimed at Al Qard Al Hassan, the country's largest microcredit provider with 30 locations across Lebanon.

The southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh was among 24 areas issued with eviction orders shortly before the air strikes began, also affecting Lebanon's eastern Bekaa valley.

Israeli air strikes continued across Lebanon on Monday morning, with several people reported killed and wounded in a strike on a home in Baalbek city.

Several paramedics were wounded in an Israeli attack on an ambulance near the southern city of Tyre, while air strikes and shelling were reported across the south overnight and into Monday.

Dozens of homes in Tyre were also damaged in an Israeli strike on an Al Qard Al Hassan branch overnight, the National News Agency reported.

US envoy Amos Hochstein is expected in Beirut on Monday to discuss diplomatic efforts to end the war.

Israel has provided the US with its conditions for a diplomatic solution, Axios reported on Sunday, quoting two US officials and two Israeli officials.

Israel's demands reportedly include “freedom of operation” in Lebanese air space and the military's “active enforcement” to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its capacities near the Israeli border.