Two Israeli air strikes killed 22 people and injured more than 100 in central Beirut, Lebanese authorities said, as a senior Hezbollah official dodged an assassination attempt.

The strikes hit a residential neighbourhood of apartment buildings and small shops late on Thursday and marked the deadliest attacks on the city since the start of the war.

The target was reported to be Wafiq Safa, the head of Hezbollah’s liaison and coordination unit responsible for working with Lebanese security agencies, but he survived, sources told Reuters. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television said he was not in the building at the time.

Israel has dramatically stepped up its air campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying it wants to secure its northern cities from barrages of rockets fired across the border, so that residents can go home.

Rescue workers were still trawling through rubble at the scene in Beirut on Friday morning.