Rescuers searched for survivors under the rubble of destroyed buildings in Beirut as Lebanon observed a day of mourning after Israeli strikes across the country killed more than 200, AFP reports.

The Israeli military carried out further strikes in southern Lebanon, killing at least five people in Abassiyeh, a village near Tyre, according to the civil defence agency.

In the Lebanese capital, rescue workers were still combing the rubble of two buildings hit in residential neighbourhoods, according to AFP journalists.

An AFP photographer saw one building in the area completely blown apart and another half destroyed in the Chiyah neighbourhood, on the outskirts of the southern suburbs.

In the south of Lebanon, Israel struck near a strategic bridge three times between Wednesday and Thursday, partially blocking it, according to an AFP photographer on the scene.