Israeli airstrike targets senior Hezbollah figure in central Beirut, 2 dead, security sources say

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Two people were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted at least one senior Hezbollah figure in central Beirut on Thursday, security sources said, after U.N. peacekeepers said Israeli forces had fired on some of their positions in south Lebanon.

At least nine others were injured in the attack after nightfall, the security sources said. A large fire blazed in the background as rescue workers used hand torches to search through the rubble for survivors, according to videos broadcast by Hezbollah’s al-Manar television.

It was not clear who the Hezbollah targets were. The neighbourhood was not previously hit by Israel and is well removed from Beirut's southern suburbs, Hezbollah's headquarters repeatedly bombed by Israel.

A thick column of smoke rose above central Beirut after what appeared to be Israel's latest major aerial attack in a widening offensive against Lebanon's powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah group. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Earlier in the day, Israel warned Lebanese civilians not to return to homes in the south to avoid harm from fighting.

The UNIFIL force said two of its peacekeepers were injured an incident when an Israeli tank fired at a watchtower at the force's main headquarters in Ras al-Naqoura, hitting the tower and causing them to fall. There were no casualties in two other incidents, a U.N. source said.