At least ten strikes hit the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday morning, after the Israeli army gave orders to evacuate buildings in the Hezbollah stronghold.

The strikes come a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with visiting U.S. officials to discuss a possible deal to end the war in Lebanon, as the death toll mounts on both sides of the conflict. the border.

AFPTV images showed explosions followed by clouds of smoke billowing through the suburbs.

“The raids caused massive destruction in the targeted areas, with dozens of buildings razed, in addition to fires,” reported the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA).

The strikes targeted the suburban areas of Ghobeiry and Al-Kafaat, the Sayyed Hadi Highway, the surroundings of the Al-Mujtaba complex and the old airport road, he added.

The Israeli army has repeatedly bombed southern Beirut in recent weeks, while carrying out deadly strikes elsewhere in the capital and across Lebanon.

– Ceasefire talks –

During talks Thursday, Israeli leader Netanyahu told U.S. envoys Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk that any deal with Lebanon must guarantee Israel’s long-term security.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also met separately with the Americans, saying in a statement that their discussions focused on “security arrangements regarding the northern area and Lebanon, as well as efforts to ensure the return of 101 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza”.

According to Israeli media citing government sources, the US-brokered plan would see Hezbollah forces withdraw about 30 kilometers from the border, north of the Litani River.

Israeli troops would withdraw from Lebanon and the Lebanese army would then take charge of the border, alongside UN peacekeepers.

Lebanon would be responsible for preventing Hezbollah from rearming with imported weapons, and Israel would retain its rights under international law to act in self-defense.

Analysts say Israel’s campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah has put it in a strong position to reach a deal.

– A growing number of deaths –

Also Thursday, Israeli doctors and a local leader reported seven Israelis killed by cross-border fire from Lebanon – one of the highest daily tolls in Israel in more than a year of cross-border trade.

Four Thais from Metula, a town in northern Israel, were also killed Thursday by rocket fire from Lebanon, according to Thailand’s foreign minister.

The Metula regional council said a local farmer and four foreign farm workers were killed during the strike.

Since fighting in Lebanon intensified on September 23, after retaliatory cross-border exchanges that Hezbollah described as support for Hamas, the war has left at least 1,829 dead in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of figures from Ministry of Health.

UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency, said Thursday that the war has caused the death of at least one child per day and injured an average of 10 per day since October 4.

The Israeli army says 37 soldiers have been killed in Lebanon since ground operations began on September 30.

ANI reported that the Israeli army carried out strikes on Baalbek, the main city in eastern Lebanon, on Thursday, two hours after issuing an evacuation order. The operation reportedly left six people dead and destroyed several houses and buildings.

ANI reported that six other people were also killed in raids on the town of Maqna, which was not included in the Israeli evacuation order.

– Talks in Gaza –

New Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem – who took the reins after Israel killed his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah – has not explicitly linked a ceasefire in Lebanon to an end to fighting in Gaza, the previous position of Hezbollah. band.

“If the Israelis decide that they want to end the aggression, we say that we accept it, but under the conditions that we consider appropriate and suitable,” he said in his first speech since his arrival in power on Tuesday.

American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators have long tried to secure a truce and an exchange of hostage prisoners in Israel’s war in Gaza.

Mediators seeking to negotiate a ceasefire should offer a truce of “less than a month” to the Palestinian group Hamas, a source close to the talks told AFP.

The proposal involves the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinians in Israeli prisons and an increase in aid to the territory, the source added.

But on Thursday, senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu reiterated that the group rejected a short-term pause.

“Hamas supports a permanent end to the war, not a temporary end,” Nunu said.

The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 sparked the war and left 1,206 dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory bombings and ground war have killed 43,204 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to Health Ministry data, figures deemed reliable by the United Nations.