A total of 20 people were killed and 21 others injured in Israeli airstrikes in and near the Syrian capital Damascus, as Israel launched attacks at targets on multiple fronts. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday that strikes had hit buildings in two neighbourhoods in the Syrian capital Damascus,

The deaths on Wednesday made it one of the most lethal days for the Israeli military since it invaded Lebanon last month to battle Hezbollah fighters.

Israeli officials are insisting on maintaining a capacity to strike Lebanon at any moment as part of conditions to secure a ceasefire with Iran-backed Hezbollah, France's foreign minister said on Wednesday.

An Israeli airstrike killed at least 23 people in the village of Aalmat, north of Beirut and far from the areas in southern and eastern Lebanon where the militant Hezbollah group has a major presence. Lebanon's Health Ministry said a further six people were wounded. There was no immediate Israeli comment.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 46 people in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, including 11 at a makeshift cafeteria in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone, medics said. In Lebanon, warplanes struck Beirut's southern suburbs and killed 18 people elsewhere in the country on Tuesday.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 46 people in the Gaza Strip in the past day, medics said. In Lebanon, warplanes struck Beirut's southern suburbs and killed 33 people in the country on Tuesday.