By Laila Bassam and Riham Alkousaa
BEIRUT (Reuters) -An Israeli airstrike killed at least 20 people in central Beirut on Saturday, Lebanon's health ministry said, one of the deadliest strikes on the heart of the capital since Israel began its assault against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in September.
Another 13 people, including at least four children, were killed in attacks on the villages of Chimsar and Bodai northeast of the capital in Baalbek district, the ministry said.
In Beirut, an eight-storey building was struck with four missiles, including bunker-penetrating types designed to hit underground targets, said a Lebanese security source.
Israel has used bunker-busting weapons to kill senior Hezbollah figures, including its veteran leader Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on southern Beirut in September.
At the site of the Israeli strike in central Beirut, Amin Chirri, a member of parliament representing Hezbollah, said there had been no Hezbollah leader in the building that was struck.
The Israeli military made no immediate comment.
Saturday's blasts shook the capital at around 4 a.m. (0200 GMT) and left a deep crater. Beirut smelled strongly of explosives for hours afterwards.
Rescuers searched through rubble, in an area of the city known for its antique shops.
It was the fourth Israeli airstrike this week targeting a central area of Beirut, in contrast to the bulk of Israel's attacks on the capital region, which have hit the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs. On Sunday an Israeli airstrike killed a Hezbollah media official in the Ras al-Nabaa district of central Beirut.
The Israeli air force also struck Hezbollah targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the group's stronghold, the Israeli military said. In a statement on actions on Saturday, it did not mention the strike on central Beirut.
It accused Hezbollah of embedding its infrastructure in civilian areas and using the population as human shields, allegations the group denies.
Israel also struck a Syrian-Lebanese border crossing in Syria's Homs province, the Syrian state news agency said on Saturday. It was the latest in a string of strikes on crossings that Hezbollah uses for movement of fighters and arms transfers from Syria, according to Syrian military sources.
HOSPITALISED DAUGHTER
A man whose family was hurt in the strike in central Beirut tried to comfort a traumatized woman outside a hospital. Car windows were shattered.
"There was dust and wrecked houses, people running and screaming, they were running, my wife is in hospital, my daughter is in hospital, my aunt is in the hospital," said the man, Nemir Zakariya, who held up a picture of his daughter.
"This is the little one, and my son also got hurt - this is my daughter, she is in the American University (of Beirut Medical (TASE:PMCN) Centre), this is what happened."
Separately, at least five people were killed and two wounded in an Israeli strike on Roum village in southern Lebanon on Saturday, according to the Lebanese state news agency.
Israel launched a major offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon in September, following nearly a year of cross-border hostilities ignited by the Gaza war, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes and sending troops into the south.
Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes have killed at least 3,670 people and injured 15,413 in Lebanon since October 2023. The figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Hezbollah and the Lebanese government accuse Israel of indiscriminate bombing that kills civilians. Israel denies the allegation and says it takes numerous steps to avoid the deaths of civilians.
Hezbollah strikes in the same period have killed more than 100 people in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. They include more than 70 soldiers killed in strikes in northern Israel and the Golan Heights and in combat in southern Lebanon, according to Israel.
The conflict began when Hezbollah, Tehran's most important ally in the region, opened fire in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas after it launched the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.
A U.S. mediator travelled to Lebanon and Israel this week in an effort to secure a ceasefire. The envoy, Amos Hochstein, indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz.