Israel warns Lebanon to evacuate suburb - media

JERUSALEM, July 13 (Reuters) The Israeli army has warned Lebanon to evacuate all residents from a southern Beirut neighbourhood where it believes Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah lives, Israeli media reported today.

Israel has stepped up reprisals against Lebanon after Lebanese Hizbollah fighters seized two Israeli soldiers and killed eight a day earlier.

''We have we passed on a warning to Lebanon to evacuate all civilians from the (southern) neighbourhood of Beirut, which is a Hizbollah stronghold and where Nasrallah lives, and where the organisation's headquarters and weapons stockpiles are,'' the Maariv NRG news Website quoted a senior army official as saying.

Israel Radio carried a similar report.

The army said it had no comment on whether Nasrallah was a target for assassination.

An Israeli helicopter gunship killed Nasrallah's predecessor, Sheikh Abbas al-Mousawi, in 1992.

Israeli aircraft earlier bombed runways at Beirut's international airport and naval vessels blockaded Lebanese ports. Air strikes have killed 47 civilians.

Reuters SHB VV1613