Israel said it struck a weapons storage facility in Beirut overnight in what locals described as an “earthquake” explosion.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency said targets included a petrol station and a warehouse for medical supplies.

It said the Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut was hit by more than 30 strikes, which were heard across the city.

A huge fireball could be seen over the capital following the bombings,which triggered secondary explosions.

“The strikes were like an earthquake,” shopkeeper Mehdi Zeiter, 60, told AfP

Israeli forces were on high alert ahead of Monday’s anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack, which sparked the war.