Turkish Foreign Ministry urged Turkish citizens on Friday to postpone travels to Lebanon which is under intensified Israeli bombardments.

"We warn our citizens to postpone their travels to Lebanon since ports and airports in that country suffered heavy damage due to recent negative developments in the Middle East," said the ministry in an advisory.

Meanwhile, the start of ferryboat services between Iskenderun town in southern Turkey and the Lebanese capital Beirut was postponed, Iskenderun Tourism official Nermin Durgun was quoted by semi-official Anatolia news agency as saying on Friday.

Durgun said, "We have postponed the services to Beirut which are planned to start on July 24 because of the uncertain condition in Lebanon. We will make a decision according to developments."

On Thursday, Turkish Airlines (THY) cancelled its fights to and from Beirut due to damage in the Beirut Airport that came under heavy bombardments by Israeli military planes.

THY's station director in Beirut Hasan Hazirlar told Anatolia that the east runway of the Beirut Airport was seriously damaged in the Israeli air raids.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli warplanes struck the Beirut Airport again, targeting a runway. The strike was the third of its kind since violence erupted between Israel and Lebanon's Hizbollah militia who seized two Israelis soldiers and killed eight on Wednesday.

The Israel navy also blockaded the Lebanese sea ports.

At least 50 Lebanese have been killed and more than 100 others injured in Israeli bombardments in the past two days, Lebanon said.

Source: Xinhua