An Israeli strike hit an apartment block in central Beirut on Wednesday, Lebanon's state news agency reported, further widening Israeli attacks in the capital beyond the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs where heavy strikes continued.
Footage showed extensive damage to two floors of the apartment block in the Aicha Bakkar neighbourhood, and smoke rising from the building.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military and no immediate reports of casualties.
It marks the second Israeli strike in the heart of Beirut in four days. On Sunday, an Israeli strike hit a hotel in the seafront Raouche neighbourhood. The Israeli military said that the strike targeted five senior members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds Force.
Lebanese authorities say nearly 570 people have been killed by Israeli strikes since Iran-backed Hezbollah opened fire on March 2 to avenge the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Israel kept up heavy strikes on the southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, overnight. The Israeli military has ordered residents of the predominantly Shi'ite Muslim Dahiyeh to leave, along with residents of a swathe of southern Lebanon and parts of the east.
Some 700,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon, or more than a tenth of the population, the United Nations has reported.
While the war with Iran continues, Israel is examining the possibility of establishing a strategic foothold in Somaliland at the entrance to the Red Sea to counter Yemen's Houthis, one of Tehran's last fully operational proxy forces, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Israel is reportedly planning to establish a military base in the recently recognized East African country, located on the Gulf of Aden directly across Yemen, according to Khadar Hussein Abdi, Somaliland's minister of the presidency.
Sources in the White House told The Wall Street Journal that they are concerned there are gaps between Israel and the United States regarding the timing of ending the war.
According to the report, officials in the administration fear that Israel intends to continue strikes on Iran even after the United States seeks to bring it to an end.
Following Trump's comments on Monday that the war might be over soon, the president said, "We could go further, and we're going to go further." Trump has previously suggested in public and private discussions that he would back Mojtaba Khamenei's assassination if he does not cede to U.S. demands, according to current and former U.S. officials.
While U.S. President Donald Trump has stated that the war could end "very soon" and that most of the U.S. military objectives have largely been achieved, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly reiterated his aspiration to bring about regime change in Tehran.
Australia has closed its embassies in Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv as well as its consulate in Dubai, the foreign minister said on Wednesday, amid fears the conflict in the Middle East could intensify.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said at least nine cities where Australian embassies and consulates are located have experienced missile and drone attacks.
"Iran's reprisal attacks continue at scale and at a depth that we have not seen before," she told parliament.
The conflict was "likely to intensify and continue in the near term", she said.
"Our missions in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Tel Aviv have all had to physically close in the last week."
Australia has also directed dependants of diplomatic officials in the United Arab Emirates and Israel to leave.
"The dangerous and destabilising attacks by Iran put civilian lives at risk, including Australian lives, and we continue to support Australians affected as limited commercial flights resume and we expand consular efforts," Wong said.
More than 3,200 Australians have returned from the Middle East on 23 commercial flights. About 115,000 citizens were in the region when the conflict began.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the son and successor of Iran's former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was wounded in initial U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, Israeli and Iranian sources told the New York Times.
According to the report, he was wounded in the leg but is "alert" and hiding in a "highly secured area with limited communications." Khamenei, 56, has not yet appeared in public or on video since being elected to replace his father.
Khamenei is "safe and sound," said government adviser and son of Iran's president Yousef Pezeshkian on Wednesday.
"I heard news that Mr. Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured. I have asked some friends who had connections. They told me that, thank God, he is safe and sound," Pezeshkian wrote on his Telegram channel.
State television had referred to Khamenei as a "wounded veteran of the Ramadan war" but did not detail his condition.
The comments come amid speculation over the health and whereabouts of Khamenei, who has not engaged with the public since he succeeded his late father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, three days ago.
The remarks follow growing speculation about Khamenei's health and location, who has not made any public appearances since being elected Iran's supreme leader following the death of his father.
