The mayor of a major city in southern Lebanon was among 16 people killed in an Israeli strike on buildings in the Nabatiya municipality, in Israel's biggest attack on Lebanese government buildings.
Lebanese officials criticized the strike, which injured more than 50 people, saying it was evidence that Israel's military operations against Hezbollah were now being directed against the Lebanese state.
The Israelis "deliberately targeted a city council meeting whose objective was to examine the humanitarian situation and the state of the city's services" in order to provide aid to those displaced by Israeli operations, Lebanon's caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati charged.
Since October 8, 2023, after the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been exchanging fire daily. Last month, Israel launched ground and air operations against Lebanon aimed at dismantling Hezbollah.
European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janes Lenarcic said Israel's "violent response" to the Hamas attack that triggered the war has resulted in the devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which is now spilling over into Lebanon.
"Humanitarian workers have been targeted and killed. Hundreds. There is no security and protection so that humanitarian work can be organized satisfactorily," Lenarcic complained on the sidelines of an ASEAN event in Jakarta. He even described the provision of humanitarian aid as "grossly inadequate".
Concerns of regional conflagration have increased since Israel said it would respond to an Iranian missile attack on it, launched on October 1.
The US said on Wednesday it had struck five underground weapons caches of Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen with B-2 bombers, the latest in a series of strikes against Houthi positions since October.
The Houthis, in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, have launched nearly 100 attacks on ships in the Red Sea since November last year.
Israel, for its part, launched airstrikes on the Syrian port city of Lattakia early this morning, causing the fire to break out, Syrian state media reported.
This strike was aimed at a "weapons depot", according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Israel regularly accuses Hezbollah of importing weapons through Syria.
Removal orders and conflicts
Israel first issued an evacuation order for Nabatiya, a city of tens of thousands of residents, on October 3. At the time, the city's mayor, Ahmed Khalil, told Reuters he would not leave Nabatiya.
When asked about the strike in that city, Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman, declined to comment on the circumstances of specific attacks, but added that the U.S. is aware that Hezbollah operates from areas where there are civilian homes and supports limited strikes targeting Shiite organization.
"Obviously we don't want to see whole villages destroyed. We don't want to see civilian homes destroyed," he added.
Yesterday the Israeli military indicated that it had struck "against dozens of Hezbollah targets" near Nabatiyya, a stronghold of that Shiite movement as well as the also Shiite Amal group, which is its ally.
In Cana, "more than 15 buildings were completely destroyed, a real disaster," said a rescuer, Mohammed Ibrahim, after an Israeli raid.
Israel's military said it destroyed a network of tunnels used by Hezbollah's Radwan force in the city center, which is near the border with Israel, and released video showing multiple explosions near buildings. Lebanese officials indicated that the strike was aimed at the city of Mahibib.
The Israeli strikes in the city of Tire Deba, near Tyre, caused the death of three people, as reported by the Lebanese news agency ANI, citing the Ministry of Health.
The same source added that there were seven airstrikes in less than 10 minutes against the town of Hyam, near the border.
Israeli air strikes targeted the province of Hermel and the town of Yaat, about seven kilometers from Baalbek, in the Bekaa Valley.
Yesterday the White House reiterated that it "stated directly to Israel" that it is "opposed" to strikes against "densely populated areas of Beirut" and asked it "not to threaten the lives of civilians", UN peacekeepers and Lebanese soldiers.
For its part, Hezbollah spoke of "brutal fighting" with Israeli soldiers near a border village. It added that it launched a "barrage of rockets" for the third time in 24 hours against Safed in northern Israel and destroyed an Israeli tank "with a remote-guided missile."
According to the Israeli armed forces, "about 90 missiles" were fired by Hezbollah during the day yesterday against Israel. Four people were injured by shrapnel.
Unicef called the destruction of at least "28 water facilities" a "disaster for all Lebanese children", affecting "more than 360.000 people", mainly in southern Lebanon, exposing children to diseases such as cholera and hepatitis.
For almost a month at least 1.373 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. The UN has counted nearly 700.000 displaced people.
About 50 Israelis, soldiers and civilians, have been killed during the same period.
Fire against UNIFIL
The UN Mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced yesterday, Wednesday, that its peacekeepers saw an Israeli tank firing at their observation post in the Kfar Kela area. Two cameras were destroyed and the observatory was damaged.
The Israeli military responded that the incident was being investigated.
"UNIFIL infrastructure and forces are not a target and any irregular incident will be thoroughly investigated," the army stressed, while adding that Hezbollah has been operating "for many years from facilities it has placed inside or next to UNIFIL positions."
Israel has asked the UN to move UNIFIL members deployed in southern Lebanon away from the conflict zone.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallad, for his part, said during his visit to northern Israel near the border that Israel will not stop its operations against Hezbollah in order to start negotiations.
Source: protothema.gr
