An Israeli air strike has destroyed the municipal headquarters in Nabatieh, a major town in south Lebanon, killing the mayor and at least five others as they met to co-ordinate aid for those suffering from war.
The attack raised fears that Israel’s expanding air campaign, designed to crush Hezbollah, could increasingly include public officials and buildings, which so far have been spared.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the attack on the provincial capital, saying it “intentionally targeted a meeting of the municipal council to discuss the city’s service and relief situation”.
It was the most significant Israeli hit yet on a Lebanese state building since it expanded its offensive last month and came despite US concerns about rising death tolls and the prospect of all-out war in the Middle East.
Israel in recent weeks has assassinated Hezbollah’s senior leadership and pushed into southern border towns, saying it wants to dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure to allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return home to Israel’s north.
After Israel first issued an evacuation notice for Nabatieh, a city of tens of thousands of people, on October 3, a Reuters reporter called Mayor Ahmed Kahil to ask if he would leave.
He said he would not.
Israel’s military said on Wednesday it struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in the Nabatieh area and its navy also hit dozens of targets in southern Lebanon.
It said it had “dismantled” a tunnel network used by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces in the heart of a town near the border with Israel, publishing a video showing multiple explosions rocking a cluster of buildings.
Lebanese officials said it was the small town of Mhaibib, home to a religious shrine.
United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said civilian suffering was reaching an unprecedented level after the Israeli strike on Nabatieh.
Israel is battling Iranian allies Hezbollah in south Lebanon and in the capital Beirut and the Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
It is also preparing to retaliate for an Iranian missile attack on October 1, following a similar large-scale operation in April.
Earlier on Wednesday, at least one Israeli air strike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.
Reuters witnesses heard two blasts and saw plumes of smoke rising from two separate neighbourhoods.
The blasts came after Israel issued an evacuation order which mentioned only one building.
On Tuesday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the US had expressed its concerns to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration on the recent attacks on Beirut.
Israeli operations have led to heavy civilian casualties, leading allies including France to call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
France has banned Israeli firms from participating in an upcoming military naval trade show, two sources aware of the matter said on Wednesday, the latest incident to highlight an increasingly tense relationship between the two allies.
Israeli operations in Lebanon have killed at least 2350 people over the last year, according to the health ministry, and more than 1.2 million people have been displaced.
The toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but includes hundreds of women and children.
About 50 Israelis, both soldiers and civilians, have been killed in the same period, according to Israel.
Wednesday’s attack on Beirut was the first since October 10, when two strikes near the city centre killed 22 people and brought down entire buildings in a densely populated neighbourhood.
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