AIR raid sirens echoed across Tel Aviv today as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to end a visit to the city.

Smoke could be seen in the sky above the hotel where Mr Blinken was staying as he reportedly prepared to depart to the airport.

The Israeli military claims that it intercepted two projectiles fired from Lebanon. 

Meanwhile Israeli jets struck multiple residential buildings in Lebanon’s southern coastal city of Tyre on Wednesday, sending large clouds of black smoke into the air.

The Lebanese National News Agency reported that an Israeli strike on the nearby town of Maarakeh killed three people. There were no reports of casualties in Tyre.

Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging missile attacks since shortly after Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack. An all-out war erupted in Lebanon last month, and Israeli strikes killed Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and most of his senior commanders. 

Israeli ground forces invaded southern Lebanon at the beginning of October.

Tyre, a provincial capital, had previously largely been spared Israeli bombing, but strikes in and around the city have intensified recently.

The 2,500-year-old city, about 50 miles south of Beirut, is known for its pristine beaches, ancient harbour and imposing Roman ruins and hippodrome, a Unesco World Heritage Site. 

The buildings struck today were between several heritage sites, including the hippodrome and a cluster of seaside sites associated with the ancient Phoenicians and the Crusaders.

The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for buildings in the heart of the city and gave residents about two hours to move out. 

Avichay Adraee, an Israeli military spokesman, claimed on the X social media platform, without providing evidence, that there were Hezbollah assets in the area of the evacuation warning.

Dr Wissam Ghazal, a health official in Tyre, said the strikes hit six buildings, flattening four of them, two-and-a-half hours after the evacuation warnings. People displaced by the strikes could be seen in parks and sitting on the sides of nearby roads.

Over 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict began late last year, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Over a million people have fled their homes since September.

The Israelis report that attacks from Lebanon have killed around 60 people. 

Around 60,000 people across northern Israel have been displaced. In recent weeks Hezbollah has extended its range, launching scores of rockets every day and regularly targeting the northern Israeli city of Haifa.