BEIRUT - Israel launched powerful airstrikes on southern Beirut late Thursday, targeting what it claimed were underground drone factories operated by Hezbollah. The attack triggered panic and forced mass evacuations in the area,

A series of Israeli strikes have targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs on the eve of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, almost an hour after the Israeli army issued a forced evacuation order to residents in areas that it says held underground facilities used by the Lebanese group Hezbollah for drone production.

The airstrikes on the southern outskirts of the Lebanese capital, an area where Hezbollah holds sway, were some of the heaviest since a U.S.-brokered cease-fire came into effect in November.