Israeli military strikes bridge over Litani River in Lebanon

The bridge was targeted because it was ​a key crossing used ⁠by Hezbollah militants moving between northern and southern Lebanon, Israel said.

Tel Aviv: The Israeli military said it carried out an air strike on a bridge in southern Lebanon ⁠on Friday, in what appeared to be the first ⁠time in the current campaign against ‌Hezbollah that Israel ​acknowledged it had targeted civilian infrastructure.

The Israeli military said that the Zrariyeh bridge, which spans the Litani River, was targeted because it was ​a key crossing used ⁠by Hezbollah militants moving between northern and southern Lebanon, but provided no evidence to support the claim.

It also said Hezbollah ⁠militants ‌had positioned launchers near the bridge and carried out attacks on Israel from ‌the area.

Striking the bridge was necessary to remove ⁠a threat to Israeli civilians, the military said in a statement.

Earlier ‌in the day, Lebanon's state ‌media reported that a drone struck a residential ‌apartment in Beirut's Burj Hammoud district ‌on the northern outskirts of the Lebanese capital on Friday.

It is the first time the area has been ⁠targeted.

Israel's ⁠military has carried out daily strikes this week on Lebanon in an offensive against Tehran-backed Hezbollah after it launched attacks on Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader at the start ​of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Hundreds of ​thousands of Lebanese ​have been displaced.