Israel has stepped up strikes on the city’s southern suburbs in recent days, an area Israeli officials say hosts Hezbollah militants and infrastructure.

Suzanne Karkaba and her father Ali were both civil defence rescuers whose job was to save the injured and recover the dead in Lebanon's war. Wearing her civil defence uniform at the scene, Karkaba said she had been working around-the-clock since Israel ramped up its air raids on Lebanon's east in late September.

By Riham Alkousaa and Ari Rabinovitch BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Diplomacy aimed at securing a ceasefire in Lebanon showed tentative signs of progress on Thursday as Israel pounded its northern neighbour including heavy airstrikes on the stronghold of armed group Hezbollah near Beirut.