Israeli warplanes have carried out bombing raids throughout Lebanon in retaliation for recent attacks by Hezbollah guerrillas.

They hit three power stations, at Baalbek in the east, at Jamhour near Beirut and at Tripoli in northern Lebanon.

The missiles also hit areas to the west of Baalbek, where bases of the Hezbollah guerrilla group are located.

A Hezbollah statement warned of retaliation "very soon".

A BBC correspondent said that firefighters were battling to put out a blaze at the Jamhour power station, where the air is thick with black acrid smoke.

Jamhour is the main source of electricity for Beirut which, along with most of Lebanon's major cities, has now been plunged into darkness by the raids.

Lebanese police said six civilians in Baalbeck were slightly injured by flying glass.

The raids followed the killing of five Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah in the Israeli occupied buffer zone in southern Lebanon over the past two weeks.

Earlier on Monday, Israeli authorities ordered residents of towns near the border with Lebanon to go into bomb shelters.

'Strong message'

Brigadier General Obed Ben-Ami, of the Israeli Defence Force, told the BBC that the strikes were the only way to prevent future Hezbollah attacks.

"This is the only way to deliver a clear message to Beirut, to the government of Lebanon, who can control the Hezbollah terror organisation," he said.

Lebanese Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss said Israel would be disappointed if it thought the air raids would make his country accept occupation.

Israel occupies a strip of land in south Lebanon as a so-called security zone to buffer it against cross-border attacks.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, on Monday repeated his pledge to hit back at those who attack the Israeli army in southern Lebanon.

"It is impossible to allow continued attacks on the Israeli army in Lebanon without the aggressors and those who send them going unpunished," he told young supporters of his governing Labour party.

Mr Barak was speaking after a meeting of his security cabinet.

Correspondents say Mr Barak is under intense domestic pressure to take strong military action against Hezbollah.

But they say he fears that this may harm land-for-peace talks with Syria.

Mr Barak has pledged to withdraw Israeli troops from south Lebanon by July, preferably having first reached a peace deal with Syria