Multiple Israeli air strikes target Beirut as Benjamin Netanyahu rejects calls for ceasefire The Lebanese capital was hit by Israeli bombardment on Wednesday, with at least 11 strikes reported across southern Beirut.
An Israeli air strike on the municipal building in Nabatieh, a major town in southern Lebanon, which serves as a provincial capital, killed at least six people including the mayor, two security sources said.
The strike came despite U.S. concerns about rising death tolls and fears of a wider regional escalation.
Hours earlier at least one Israeli strike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, Reuters witnesses said, after the U.S. said it opposed the scope of Israeli attacks in Lebanon’s capital.
Reuters witnesses heard two blasts and saw plumes of smoke emerging from two separate neighbourhoods. It came after Israel issued an evacuation order early on Wednesday, which mentioned only one building.
The Israeli military has in recent weeks carried out strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, the stronghold of Iran-backed Hezbollah, without advance warnings, or with a warning for one area while striking more broadly.
Multiple Israeli air strikes have hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, according to witnesses and local authorities, after days of the area being spared.
Israeli military strikes kill at least 40 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces tighten their squeeze around Jabalia in the north of the enclave, amid fierce battles with Hamas-led fighters.
“For now, 11 strikes have mainly hit Nabatiyeh but also its surroundings,” Nabatiyeh governor Howaida Turk said, adding that the intense raids “formed a kind of belt of fire” in the area.