BEIRUT, April 4 -- The Israeli military said today it had begun striking "Hezbollah infrastructure" in Beirut after it destroyed a bridge in eastern Lebanon to prevent the Iran-backed group's reinforcements from crossing.

An AFP journalist heard two loud explosions in the capital within half an hour early today and saw smoke billowing from one of them.

Local media reported two strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a locality that has been a target of Israeli strikes in recent days as the military presses on with its ground invasion in the country's south.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel to avenge the US-Israeli attack that killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene...