In pictures: Dozens of buildings razed in Israeli strikes on south Beirut

Dozens of buildings in Beirut have been completely destroyed by intense Israeli strikes overnight after Israel said it had killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, an AFP photographer on the ground reported Saturday.

Some buildings were still burning on Saturday morning, with smoke billowing over several locations in south Beirut, also known as Dahiyeh.

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese border village of Shebaa on September 28, 2024.

Rubble and twisted metal filled the streets, clogging roads in some areas.

Israeli jets pounded Beirut's south and its outskirts throughout the night in the most intense attacks on the Hezbollah stronghold since the group and Israel last went to war in 2006.

Thousands of people left the usually densely packed residential southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital following Israeli evacuation orders.

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborrhood in Beirut’s southern suburb early on September 28, 2024.

Israel said it was attacking the Iran-backed group's headquarters and weapons facilities in the Lebanese capital.

Thousands of residents camped out overnight in streets, public squares and makeshift shelters after Israel late Friday ordered them out.

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighbourhood in Beirut’s southern suburb early on September 28, 2024.

Rockets fired from southern Lebanon are intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defence system over the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel.