Mayor of Lebanon’s Nabatiyeh among dead in Israeli strike on municipality, say officials
The mayor of Nabatiyeh was among those killed on Wednesday in Israeli strikes on the municipality of the southern Lebanese city, where Hezbollah and its ally Amal hold sway, authorities said.
“The mayor of Nabatiyeh, among others … was martyred. It’s a massacre,” Nabatiyeh governor Howaida Turk told Agence France-Presse (AFP), adding he had been in the municipality building.
Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers also told AFP that several people were killed in the strike on the municipality building including mayor Ahmad Kahil.
Key events
Lebanese official media reported on Wednesday that Israeli jets caused two sonic booms over Beirut and the surrounding area, with Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists in the capital hearing loud bangs.
“Enemy aircraft violently broke the sound barrier twice in the airspace of (Beirut’s) southern suburbs” and surroundings areas, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.
Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati condemned deadly Israeli strikes on Wednesday on the southern city of Nabatiyeh, saying they intentionally targeted a municipality meeting.
Mikati “condemned the new Israeli aggression against civilians in the city of Nabatiyeh, which deliberately targeted a meeting of the municipal council that was discussing the city’s services and relief situation,” he said in a statement, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A local official said the city mayor, Ahmad Kahil, was among the dead.
The probability of an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites remains low but any potential damage would be “quickly compensated”, state atomic energy agency spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Wednesday, reports Reuters citing the semi-official Nournews.
After Iran’s missile attack on Israel on 1 October, there has been speculation that Israel could strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, as it has long threatened to do. “We have always taken these threats seriously,” Kamalvandi said.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Tuesday that Israel would listen to the US but would decide its actions according to its own national interest.
The statement was attached to a Washington Post article which said Netanyahu had told US president Joe Biden’s administration that Israel would strike Iranian military targets, not nuclear or oil targets, reports Reuters.
Biden has said he would not support an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites and oil markets have been on edge over the prospect of an Israeli strike against Iranian oilfields.
Kamalvandi told Nournews that any attack on Iran’s nuclear sites remained improbable and that if this happened, the damage was likely to be minimal and quickly repaired by Iran.
“We have planned in a way that if they commit any stupidity, the damages would be minimal,” Kamalvandi said.
According to Reuters, the Iranian spokesperson added that the UN nuclear watchdog and the international community should condemn any threat or attack on nuclear sites.
Lebanon’s prime minister has condemned the ‘deliberate’ Israeli strike on a Nabatiyeh municipality meeting, reports Agence France-Presse.
We will update with more details soon …
At least 42,409 Palestinians have been killed and 99,153 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said on Wednesday.
The health ministry does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths.
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni will meet King Abdullah of Jordan in Aqaba, then the Lebanese prime minister in Beirut on Friday, reports Reuters.
The prime minister’s office said in a note that Meloni will see King Abdullah at 10am GMT (11am BST), than the Lebanese premier, Najib Mikati, at 2.30pm GMT (3.30pm BST).
Here are some recent images of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon, where an Israeli airstrike is reported to have killed five people today.
Further to the news that several people, including a mayor, were reported killed (see 9.30am BST) on Wednesday in an Israeli strike on a municipality building in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon, some more information has been shared on the news wires.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Lebanon’s health ministry said five people were killed in the strike.
“The Israeli enemy raid … on two buildings, that of the Nabatiyeh municipality and the union of municipalities, killed five people in a preliminary toll,” the ministry said in a statement, adding rescuers were searching for survivors under the rubble.
Israeli navy forces have struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, in cooperation with troops on the ground, Israel’s military said on Wednesday, reports Reuters.
The mayor of Nabatiyeh was among those killed on Wednesday in Israeli strikes on the municipality of the southern Lebanese city, where Hezbollah and its ally Amal hold sway, authorities said.
“The mayor of Nabatiyeh, among others … was martyred. It’s a massacre,” Nabatiyeh governor Howaida Turk told Agence France-Presse (AFP), adding he had been in the municipality building.
Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers also told AFP that several people were killed in the strike on the municipality building including mayor Ahmad Kahil.
Wizz Air said on Wednesday that it was suspending flights to and from Tel Aviv until 14 January due to the situation in the region.
A Lebanese official said Israel carried out 11 airstrikes on Nabatiyeh and surrounding areas on Wednesday, days after strikes destroyed the southern city’s marketplace, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“For now, 11 strikes have mainly hit Nabatiyeh but also its surroundings,” Nabatiyeh governor Howaida Turk told AFP when asked about Israeli strikes, adding that the intense raids “formed a kind of belt of fire” in the area. She reported casualties but could not provide a precise toll.
Geneva Abdul The Biden administration’s call warning Israel to take immediate action to let more humanitarian aid into Gaza at risk of possible punishment, including the potential stopping of US weapons transfers, is “long overdue” the Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn) has said.
The organisation, formed by the late Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, said the letter from the US administration is an “important” and “unprecedented” signal, while urging for further action “beyond warnings”.
“We now need the Biden administration to show action, not just words, in enforcing US laws, which prohibit aid to Israel given not only its relentless obstruction of humanitarian relief but deliberate starvation and incessant bombardment of Gaza’s civilians,” said Dawn’s executive director, Sarah Leah Whitson.
A four-page letter, written by US secretary of state Antony Blinken and the defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, dated 13 October, calls on Israel’s government to ease humanitarian suffering in Gaza, by lifing restrictions on the entry of assistance within 30 days or face unspecified policy “impliciations”. The letter was sent to Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant and strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer.
“While the letter demands Israel rescind evacuation orders, it is time for the US to enforce these demands immediately rather than issuing vague deadlines. The US must move beyond warnings and act decisively to end its complicity in these atrocities,” added Raed Jarrar, Dawn’s advocacy director.
Lebanon PM condemns ‘deliberate’ Israeli strike on Nabatiyeh
At least 42,409 Palestinians killed in Israeli offensive on Gaza since 7 October 2023, says health ministry
Mayor of Lebanon’s Nabatiyeh among dead in Israeli strike on municipality, say officials
