Israel has carried out at least four air strikes on the historic Lebanese port city of Tyre, hours after expanding its evacuation orders to cover several central neighbourhoods. Videos showed huge clouds of black smoke rising from a seafront area that is only a few hundred metres from Unesco World Heritage-listed Roman ruins.

An Israeli strike killed three Lebanese troops in south Lebanon on Thursday as France hosted a conference to rally support for Lebanese state forces, which are seen as vital to any diplomatic resolution of the war between Israel and Hezbollah.