The Israeli military was looking into the report of the strike in Jounieh, a spokesman said. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group that is fighting Israeli troops on Lebanon’s southern border and whose top leadership has suffered blows from targeted Israeli strikes.

The health ministry said the Israeli strike targeted a car.

Two witnesses told Reuters they heard a small blast and saw a Honda sports utility vehicle travelling on the main highway south in the direction of Beirut begin to lose control.

The car stopped about 100m down the highway and a man and a woman ran out of the vehicle and into a grassy area on the side of the highway before another blast, the witnesses said.

One witness sawed the charred remains of a person in the grassy area.