Explosions could be heard as Israeli warplanes on Saturday carried out air attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Hezbollah militia, local media reported.

The planes struck the suburbs five times. So far, there were no reports of casualties, said the report.

Meanwhile, Israeli helicopters also attacked suspected Hezbollah positions in the southern city of Tyre, but were faced by anti-aircraft fire.

According to security sources, two Israeli commando units landed by helicopters near Tyre on Saturday. The drop occurred at the northern entrance of the city, where the forces clashed with Hezbollah guerrillas.

At least five people were killed in the raid. Hezbollah said in a statement that one Israeli soldier was killed and many were wounded. The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the operation.

On Friday, Israel expanded its bombing of Lebanon with airstrikes targeting bridges in north Beirut, killing three people and injuring several others as well as destroying four bridges, after Hezbollah rocket attack killed several Israelis.

Some three rockets fired by Hezbollah landed near the Israeli city of Hadera Friday evening, marking the deepest distance that rockets fired by the Lebanese guerrilla group to Israel, local TV reported.

About three rockets landed in or near Hadera, 80 km from the Lebanese border and 40 km north of Tel Aviv. It marked the deepest distance that rockets fired by Hezbollah had landed inside Israel since the start of the conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah on July 12, said the report.

Source: Xinhua