Israel kills mayor in attack on southern Lebanon city hall

An Israeli airstrike killed the mayor of a southern Lebanese city and at least 15 others after it hit municipal buildings in Nabatiyeh, the Health Ministry said.

The attack raised concerns that Israel is expanding Hizbollah’s campaign against Shia militants to include government offices and civilian officials. It was the first major attack on such buildings since Israel’s latest offensive began and came as satellite data showed Israel was expanding its reach. Its target range is in Lebanon.

The attack, which injured 52 people, also shows that Israeli targets now include Amal, a powerful Shia political party allied with Hizbollah has a role in city government and has a strong presence in the area.

“It was a complete massacre, the number of dead and injured is still rising,” governor Hwaida Turk told the Financial Times, confirming the deaths of mayor Ahmad Kaheel and committee members.

Those killed along with Kaheel, she added, included at least four members of the city’s crisis committee tasked with organizing relief efforts for hundreds of thousands of people displaced since Israel’s escalation. airstrike campaign in Lebanon late last month.

The Israeli military said it attacked dozens of Hizbollah infrastructure targets in the Nabatiyeh area, which were “tightly attached” adjacent to civilian infrastructure.

Nabatiyeh, which is predominantly Shia, is one of the most important cities in southern Lebanon. Both Hizbollah and longtime allies from Amal have a presence in the city, although Amal dominates local politics. Unlike Hizbollah, Amal does not have a well-organized military force.

But it had an armed wing and some of its warriors died with it. Hizbollah warriors in the war over the past year.

Nabih Berri, Amal’s leader, has been speaker of parliament for more than three decades and is the main interlocutor for the United States, Western and Arab nations trying to negotiate an end to the conflict.

Lebanon’s interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the attack, which he said happened on Nabatiyeh officials as they were meeting to discuss the city’s relief efforts.

Mikati accused the international community of being “deliberately silent” about Israeli attacks that killed civilians and injured United Nations peacekeepers.

“What solution can one hope for in the face of this reality?” he said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said any ceasefire talks with Hizbollah would only take place “under fire”, vowing that Israel would continue its offensive in Lebanon until it was safe for Israelis were displaced from their homes in the north of the country to safety. return.

“Hizbollah is in great difficulty,” he said as he assessed the situation near the border with Lebanon. “We will only hold negotiations under fire. I said it on day one, I said it in Gaza and I’m saying it here.”

Israeli forces began escalating their campaign against Hizbollah in September, destroying southern Lebanese villages and attacking the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the militant group is headquartered, killing many commanders. leading air strikes, including leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Lebanese authorities say Israeli bombings have killed more than 2,350 people and wounded nearly 11,000, most in the past three weeks.

Analysis of satellite-based radar measurements shows that Israel has expanded its targeting range across Lebanon over the past 12 days, including attacks on multiple villages near Nabatiyeh north of the Litani River that damaged hundreds of buildings. damaged. The data was provided to the FT by Corey Scher of the CUNY Graduate Center and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University.

The measurements highlight mounting damage in the northeastern Bekaa Valley, as well as along border areas with Syria, where Israel says it is targeting Hizbollah’s infrastructure and supply routes .

Israel has also stepped up attacks on several villages and towns along Lebanon’s southern border since October 2, repeatedly hitting them with airstrikes that caused heavy damage. Experts said this showed Israel was clearing its sights ahead of further operations on the ground.

The Israeli army said Wednesday it had “destroyed” a network of tunnels used by Hizbollah’s elite Radwan force, located in the center of a town in the south of the country.

They released a video they said was footage of the activity, showing a huge cloud of dust rising into the air as nearly simultaneous explosions shook a group of buildings. A Lebanese official told the FT that the village was Mhaibib.

Responding to the footage, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Wednesday: “We don’t want to see the entire village destroyed. We don’t want to see people’s houses destroyed. We don’t want to see civilian buildings destroyed.”

“Israel has the right to pursue. . . legitimate goals, he added, “but they need to do so in a way that protects civilian infrastructure, protects civilians.”

According to the United Nations, more than a quarter of Lebanon has been ordered evacuated by Israel, with more than 1.2 million people displaced, most in the past two weeks since Israel began invading the south of the country.

Like most of southern Lebanon, Israel threatened Nabatiyeh residents and told them to leave on October 3, causing many to flee. But Kaheel and others continued to coordinate relief efforts, he told the FT earlier this month.

On Saturday night, Israeli jets struck the city’s century-old market, destroying several historic buildings and leaving piles of debris on the main commercial thoroughfare.

In addition to targeting Hizbollah, Israeli airstrikes have also killed rescue workers affiliated with Amal in recent weeks. When asked by the FT to comment on those attacks, the Israeli military called Amal a “terrorist organization” that had deliberately attacked Israeli men, women and children.

Israeli jets also hit Beirut’s southern suburbs after a six-day lull, although Washington said it objected to the scope of Israeli airstrikes on the capital and Mikati said he had been The US gave “a kind of guarantee” that pressure on Beirut would bring pressure on Beirut. will be reduced.

“We oppose strikes almost every day, sometimes daily strikes and sometimes multiple strikes per day in densely populated areas of Beirut,” Miller added Wednesday. . . And we have made it clear to the Israeli government that we oppose the intense daily bombardment of Beirut and we have seen it subside significantly.”

Additional reporting by Chloe Cornish in Beirut, James Shotter in Jerusalem and Jana Tauschinski in London and Steff Chávez in Washington