BEIRUT: Israel conducted strikes targeting a city in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed calls for a ceasefire. The strike on southern Beirut was the first after several days of calm in the area, following an intense period of bombardment earlier in the war. Israel's army said its warplanes struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, where the Lebanese group and its ally Amal hold sway.
The Lebanese health ministry said six people were killed and 43 injured in the strikes on two municipal buildings in Nabatiyeh, adding that rescuers were searching through the rubble for survivors. The mayor was among the dead, a local official said, adding that the strikes "formed a kind of belt of fire" in the area.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the attack, saying that Israel "deliberately targeted a meeting of the municipal council that was discussing the city's services and relief situation." In response to the Nabatiyeh strikes, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said that "civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times." The strikes sent a thick plume of smoke billowing over houses, palm trees, and the blue-tipped minaret of a mosque in the city.
Also on Wednesday, Hezbollah said it had targeted an Israeli army tank with a guided missile near a border village. Israel ramped up its bombardment, mainly of Hezbollah strongholds, in late September and sent ground troops across the Lebanese border on September 30. The war has left at least 1,356 people dead in Lebanon, according to Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.
The latest strikes came a day after Netanyahu told French President Emmanuel Macron he was "opposed to a unilateral ceasefire, which does not change the security situation in Lebanon," according to his office. Netanyahu and the Israeli military have insisted there must be a buffer zone along Israel's border with Lebanon, free of Hezbollah fighters. On Tuesday, Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem said the only solution was a ceasefire while threatening to expand the scope of missile strikes across Israel.
The US government — Israel's top arms supplier — has criticised Israel's air strikes in Lebanon. "We have made clear that we are opposed to the campaign the way we've seen it conducted over the past weeks" in Beirut, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Tuesday. — AFP
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