Israeli fighter jets bombarded the southern suburbs of Lebanon's capital Beirut overnight into Saturday, sending panicked families fleeing massive strikes of which one reportedly targeted Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Israel said it was attacking Hezbollah's headquarters and weapons facilities, while U.S. and Israeli media reported that Nasrallah was the target of the first strike.

Israel conducted several rounds of air strikes on Hezbollah's main bastion in the southern suburbe of Beirut, sending huge clouds of smoke soaring above the densely populated area.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged the international community to "stop" Israel from waging a "genocidal war" against Lebanon, following a huge Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs.

"This new Israeli aggression proves that the Israeli enemy doesn't care about all the international efforts and calls for a ceasefire," Mikati, who is in New York, said in a statement issued by his office, urging the international community to stop the "genocidal war that it (Israel) is waging on Lebanon".

The Iranian embassy in Lebanon condemned a series of intense Israeli strikes on the densely-packed Hezbollah stronghold of Beirut's southern suburbs Friday, warning of a "dangerous escalation" in the Middle East.

"This reprehensible crime... represents a dangerous escalation that changes the rules of the game," the Iranian embassy said in a post on X, adding that Israel "will receive the appropriate punishment".

The health ministry said two people were killed and 76 wounded in a huge Israeli air strike in Beirut's densely populated southern suburbs Friday, adding it was a preliminary toll.

"The successive Israeli enemy strikes on Haret Hreik in Beirut's southern suburbs, in a preliminary toll, killed two people and wounded 76, including... 15 that required hospitalization," a ministry statement said.

The Israeli military said it struck the headquarters of Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday, after violent explosions rocked Dahieh and were heard across Beirut.

"The IDF (Israeli army) carried out a precise strike on the central headquarters of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Dahieh," military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement.

An Israeli security official said on Friday that any ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon would be carried out as swiftly as possible.

"We will try to do it as short as we can," the official told journalists, speaking anonymously in line with security rules.

France opposes Lebanon "becoming a new Gaza," French President Emmanuel Macron said during a visit to Canada, citing the "absolutely shocking" number of civilian casualties.

"Israel must stop its strikes and Hezbollah must stop its retaliating," Macron told a joint news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Thursday.

An Israeli air strike on Friday killed five Syrian soldiers near the border with Lebanon, the official news agency SANA reported, citing a military source.

"The Israeli enemy carried out an aerial attack... on one of our military positions near Kfar Yabous on the Syrian-Lebanese border," SANA said, adding that five Syrian soldiers were killed and one was wounded.

Hezbollah said its forces fired a salvo of rockets at the Israeli city of Tiberias on Friday.

In a statement, Hezbollah said it was responding to Israel's "savage" strikes on Lebanese towns and civilians.