The attack, for which Lebanese officials blamed Israel, appeared to be the deadliest in the Lebanese capital in more than a year of fighting between the Israeli military and Hezbollah.

Twenty-two people have been killed and 117 injured in Israeli air strikes on central Beirut on Thursday evening, Lebanon's health ministry said. BBC reporters heard loud explosions echoing from the site of the strikes in Bachoura, a small Shia area in the capital. Rescuers were seen digging through rubble at the scene.