An Israeli airstrike flattened a building near one of Beirut's busiest traffic junctions on Friday, shaking the Lebanese capital as Israel kept up its intensified bombardment of Hezbollah-controlled areas of the city.

Key sticking points include Israel’s demand to retain military action rights against Hezbollah to prevent rearming. Lebanon has rejected the idea of unilateral enforcement by Israel, calling it “unthinkable.” The draft suggests enhanced enforcement of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which mandates disarmament in southern Lebanon.

An Israeli minister indicated that a ceasefire was closer than at any point since the war began, though he said a sticking point was ensuring Israel retains freedom to act inside Lebanon should any deal be violated.

By Riham Alkousaa and Steven Scheer BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli airstrikes pounded Beirut's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs for a second consecutive day on Wednesday, as Lebanon waited to hear Washington's latest ceasefire proposals after a U.

A building in Beirut's southern suburbs collapsed in a gigantic cloud of smoke and dust, an AFP photographer reported, as two strikes attributed to Israel hit the Hezbollah bastion on Friday. Later in the morning,

An airstrike hit the Lebanese capital's southern suburbs on Friday, sending plumes of gray smoke into the sky after the Israeli military called for people to evacuate, AFPTV images showed. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said an Israeli drone fired two missiles at the Beirut suburb of Ghobeiry before the air force carried out a "very heavy" strike that leveled a building near municipal offices.