Jerusalem, Sep 30 (IANS): The Israeli military has said that it killed more than 20 Hezbollah militants of varying ranks in its strikes in Beirut, during which the group's top leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, was also assassinated.

According to a statement from the military, among the others killed were Ibrahim Hussein Jazini, director of Nasrallah's security unit, and Samir Tawfiq Deeb, a longtime adviser to Nasrallah, as well as Abd al-Amir Muhammad Sablini and Ali Naaf Ayoub, who were responsible for Hezbollah's force build-up and firepower, respectively.

They were located at Hezbollah's central headquarters in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital as Israel launched the strikes, which levelled a multi-storey building, Xinhua news agency reported.

Israel continued to pound Lebanon on Sunday with more airstrikes in Beirut and the airport area, targeting Hezbollah's chemical industry expert, according to the Israeli state-owned Kan TV news.

The military said its fighter jets also struck southern Lebanon, hitting rocket launchers aimed at Israeli territory, weapons storage facilities, and Hezbollah infrastructure sites. It highlighted that warplanes also launched fresh strikes on 45 sites in southern Lebanon's Kafra area to target the group's weapons storage facilities.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah fired about 10 rockets toward the western Galilee and Haamakim areas in northern Israel, with some projectiles intercepted, according to the military.