At least 5 killed in Israeli strikes on municipal buildings in southern Lebanon

By Wassim Seif El Din

BEIRUT (AA) – At least five people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on municipal buildings in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, the Health Ministry said.

A ministry statement said that efforts were underway to search for survivors under the rubble.

The state news agency NNA said at least 10 airstrikes were launched by Israeli warplanes on Nabatieh this morning.

Other strikes were reported in Lower Nabatieh, Khiyam, Adaisseh, and Markaba in southern Lebanon.

Late on Tuesday, the Israeli army carried out a series of violent airstrikes on several towns and regions in southern and eastern Lebanon, killing at least 23 people and injuring 31 others.

Israel has mounted a huge air campaign in Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing more than 1,500 people and displacing more than 1 million.

The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed nearly 42,400 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

Israel expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 by launching an incursion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar