Israel said on Tuesday it was intensifying its bombing campaign in Lebanon, as the death toll rose above 550 in two days of airstrikes targeting the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah militia.
"We must not let Hezbollah rest. We must continue with all our strength," the Israeli chief of staff, General Herzi Halevi, said on Tuesday, according to military sources.
The attacks are to be intensified and more military forces will be deployed, he said.
The Israeli Air Force said earlier on Tuesday that it had struck "Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon, including launchers, terrorist infrastructure sites and buildings in which weapons were stored."
The military also said that it had carried out a "targeted attack" in Beirut, without giving further details. Eyewitnesses reported on Tuesday that two floors of a building were destroyed, and videos showed large clouds of smoke in the municipality of Ghobeiry in the capital's southern suburbs.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said later that six people had been killed and 15 wounded in the strike on Ghobeiry.
Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon but is backed by Iran, has meanwhile launched further attacks on northern Israel.
The Israeli army reported that more than 50 projectiles had been fired from Lebanon at various areas in northern Israel.
"The majority of the projectiles were intercepted and several fallen projectiles were identified in the area," it said. There were no reports of injuries.
Hezbollah earlier said it had attacked Israel at least six times since Tuesday morning with Fadi-1 and Fadi-2 rockets.
Among other things, it said it had attacked the Israeli military airfield Megiddo west of the city of Afula and again the Ramat David military base near Haifa.
Deadliest days in Lebanon
The number of people killed in two days of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon has meanwhile risen to 558, with some 1,835 injured, Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said.
Some 50 children were among the dead, he said. The injured were being treated at over 54 hospitals and medical centres across Beirut and southern Lebanon, said Abiad, who is health minister in a caretaker government.
As the war in Gaza approaches its first anniversary, the Israeli attacks mark a dramatic escalation of the conflict with Hezbollah.
In another major blow to Hezbollah last week, many hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded across Lebanon. Many observers attributed the attack to Israel, although Israel has not officially claimed responsibility.
Israelis put on alert
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday described the wave of airstrikes as a pre-emptive strike aimed at eliminating Hezbollah's weaponry.
"To defend our people against Hezbollah strikes, we must take out these weapons," he said on Monday.
Israeli citizens across the country must prepare for potential counter-attacks from the Hezbollah militia, the army's Homefront Command said on Tuesday.
The UN observer mission on the Israel-Lebanon border, called the
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), said it would temporarily suspend its patrols due to the increased danger for its personnel.
The risk posed by the mutual shelling between Israel's army and Hezbollah currently makes it necessary for the so-called "Blue Helmets" to remain in their bases, a UN spokesman told journalists on Monday.
Southern Lebanese fear further airstrikes
Thousands of families who fled southern Lebanon after the sudden Israeli bombing campaign have filled hotels across the capital Beirut.
"The airstrikes targeted a building next to our house in Housh, near Tyre, and the house received massive damage and some people were killed and injured in our building," Fatima Ezzeddine told dpa on Tuesday.
Large numbers were still flocking into the capital on Tuesday, with traffic jams leading into the south of the city.
"This is a disaster," Mustafa told dpa. He came from Sidquine, which was badly hit by the airstrikes, and found a room in a Beirut hotel.
"I do not know who to blame, but us citizens are paying a deadly price."
Further risks for refugees in Lebanon
The Israeli attacks in Lebanon are also affecting the tens of thousands of refugees who were already living in precarious conditions in the country.
During the past 24 hours, 45 Syrian refugees were killed in Lebanon as a result of the ongoing Israeli attacks, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights monitoring group.
Matthew Saltmarsh, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said in Geneva that around 87,000 refugees had been living in the southern regions.
In relation to its population, Lebanon has taken in more refugees than any other country in the world. According to government figures, around 1.5 million Syrians and a further 11,000 refugees from other countries are living in the country, which has a population of around 5.5 million.
Many of these families, who live mainly in eastern Lebanon and areas close to the border, are fleeing towards neighbouring Syria, a Lebanese border guard told dpa.
"Yesterday we witnessed hundreds of people heading from mainly eastern Lebanese areas and the western Bekaa Valley to the Syrian border," a border guard at the main al-Masnaa border crossing with Syria said.
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