Lebanon said an Israeli strike hit a target near Beirut on Wednesday while a medical source told AFP six people were killed as Israel pounded the country's south. The Israeli army, meanwhile, said it intercepted a "hostile aircraft" that crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon, the first such infiltration reported by the military in more than 24 hours. Israeli officials have warned the military will strike Beirut's southern suburbs if Hezbollah launches projectiles targeting Israeli communities in the north, a stance they say has backing from Washington. Hezbollah did not immediately claim any attack on northern Israel. Israeli and Lebanese diplomats on Wednesday are set to hold a second day of direct talks in Washington -- the fourth such round since war erupted on March 2. The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported "the targeting of a car on the Khaldeh road,” referring to an area at the southern entrance to the capital. An AFP correspondent at the scene saw an ambulance in attendance as onlookers peered at the strike site, which is on the main highway linking Beirut with the country's south. A photograph shows the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes in the Burj al-Chamali area near the southern city of Tyre, on June 2, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP) The NNA reported strikes on around 20 locations in the country's south on Wednesday, while Israel's army warned residents of several south Lebanon villages to evacuate ahead of attacks there. A medical source in south Lebanon's Tyre told AFP that two Israeli strikes on the Al-Hawsh area near the coastal city on Wednesday killed six people -- four Syrian nationals and two Palestinians. On Tuesday, the Israeli military released a statement alleging Hezbollah members were operating in Tyre's Christian quarter, warning it would order people to leave should the group remain there. The picturesque seaside district has so far been spared from Israeli army evacuation warnings and strikes targeting the rest of Tyre city and its surrounds. An AFP correspondent said the situation in Tyre was relatively calm on Wednesday morning, adding that some people who had been sleeping in cars or tents at the edge of the Christian quarter left for other nearby parts of the city after the Israeli military statement. Wednesday's attacks come after a dramatic escalation in fighting and Israeli bombardment in recent days as Israeli troops staged their deepest ground offensive into Lebanon in two decades.
