Israeli forces struck the HQ of Hassan Nasrallah, the chief of Lebanon's Shiite Hizbollah movement on Friday.
Updated at 8.18 am, Saturday
BEIRUT: Israeli forces struck the headquarters of Hassan Nasrallah, the chief of Lebanon's Shiite Hizbollah movement, in Beirut's southern suburbs late on Friday.
Hizbollah's Al-Manar television station said the attack "destroyed the building that hosts Hizbollah's secretariat general."
A Hizbollah spokesman says the group's chief was unhurt in the Israeli raid.
Israel's strike on the headquarters was an assassination attempt, Israeli television said.
Israel's private Channel Two television network said the air strike had been carried out based on intelligence that Nasrallah was inside the building at the time of the attack.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed an attack on the "Hizbollah terror organisation headquarters in southern Beirut".
She refused to comment on asked whether the military thought the leader of the fundamentalist Shiite movement was inside the building at the time.
The Hizbollah chief later pledged ‘open war’ against Israel and gave hints of attacks deep into Israel.
Nasrallah declared the "open war" on Israel in an audio message on Friday shortly after an Israeli attack on his home and office.
"You wanted an open war, you will get an open war," Nasrallah said.
"It will be war at all levels... to Haifa, and beyond Haifa," he said, referring to Israel's third largest city.
He claimed Hizbollah had destroyed an Israeli warship off the coast of Beirut.
The Israeli Army said a naval ship was slightly damaged off Lebanon.
A later report said the missile fired at an Israeli naval vessel off Lebanon hit a civilian boat from Egypt.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said those on board were believed to have been evacuated, adding it was unclear if there were casualties.
After initially saying the missile had been fired at an Israeli vessel in a fresh strike early on Saturday, the spokeswoman later said it had been part of an attack late on Friday when an Israeli warship was badly damaged.
“At the same time as the incident took place in which an Israeli ship was hit, a merchant ship was also hit,” the spokeswoman said.
Crewmembers of the boat, which was set ablaze, were picked up by another vessel which came to its aid, said the spokesperson.
Israeli media said the damaged missile ship was hit by an airborne drone packed with explosives.
Four Israeli troops were missing after the warship was hit in an attack claimed by Hizbollah, Al Jazeera television said, as violence escalated between Israel and the guerrilla group.
Israel's army confirmed that four sailors were missing.
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