Schools in Beirut were closed on Monday after Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital killed six people including Hezbollah's spokesman, the latest in a string of top militant targets slain in the war.

The decision followed two Israeli airstrikes, one targeting the busy shopping district of Mar Elias and another in the Ras al-Nabaa area of Beirut. According to the Ministry of Public Health, the Mar Elias strike killed three people and injured 13 others, while the Ras al-Nabaa strike killed four and injured 14.

Mohammed Afif, the head of media relations for Hezbollah, was killed in a strike on the Arab socialist Baath party's office in central Beirut, officials said.

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah confirmed its media relations chief Mohammad Afif was killed by an Israeli strike on a building in central Beirut on Sunday.

Hezbollah's media chief Mohammed Afif has been killed in an Israeli strike in central Beirut, according to news reports citing Lebanese security sources. A strike hit the headquarters of the Baath political party in the densely populated Ras al-Naba neighbourhood on Sunday, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency.

An Israeli strike on a building in central Beirut on Sunday killed Hezbollah's media relations chief Mohammad Afif, two Lebanese security sources told Reuters, though there was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah.

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

Mohammed Afif had been responsible for Hezbollah's media relations, and provided information to local and foreign journalists.

William Christou reports for the Guardian from Beirut on the strike by Israeli forces on a building in Ras al-Nabaa, central Beirut, on Sunday afternoon, the first strike on centr