Friday's strike on the Lebanese capital intensified fears of all-out war in the Middle East in the wake of the deadly attacks on the group’s pagers and walkie-talkies.

The White House earlier warned both Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group against "escalation of any kind" following pager and walkie talkie explosions targeting Hezbollah members.

At least 31 people including a top Hezbollah commander have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese capital of Beirut.Ibrahim Aqil, Hezbollah’s operations commander, was killed in the strike on a block of apartments in the city’s southern suburbs on Friday afternoon.