BREAKING: Israel attacks Lebanon

The Israeli military said it carried out a targeted strike in Beirut on Tuesday against the Hezbollah commander it accused of being responsible for a weekend bombing in the Golan Heights that killed 12 children and teens, according to Khaleej Times.

A huge blast was heard and a column of smoke could be seen rising above the southern suburbs, which are a stronghold of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, at around 7.40pm (1640 GMT), according to a Reuters witness.

It stated that no new civil defence directives for Israel had been given in the aftermath of the strike.

“The IDF carried out a targeted strike in Beirut, on the commander responsible for the murder of the children in Majdal Shams and the killing of numerous additional Israeli civilians," the Israeli Defence Forces said in a statement.

A top Lebanese security source claimed the commander's fate was unknown.

According to Lebanon's state-run national news agency, an Israeli strike targeted the area surrounding Hezbollah's Shura Council in the capital's Haret Hreik suburb.

Beirut has been on edge for days, anticipating an Israeli attack in retribution for a bombing on the Druze community of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which killed a dozen young people.