(Reuters)
BEIRUT, Oct 17 – The mayor of a major town in south Lebanon was among 16 people killed when an Israeli airstrike destroyed its municipal headquarters in the biggest attack on an official Lebanese state building since the Israeli air campaign began.
Lebanese officials denounced the incident, which also wounded more than 50 people in Nabatieh, a provincial capital, saying it was proof that Israel’s campaign against the Hezbollah armed group was now shifting to target the Lebanese state.
The Israelis “intentionally targeted a meeting of the municipal council to discuss the city’s service and relief situation” to aid people displaced by the Israeli campaign, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said.
Israel launched its ground and air campaign in Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah after a year during which the Iran-backed militant group fired across the border in support of Palestinian militants Hamas in Gaza.
Fears of a regional conflict have grown after Israel promised to retaliate for an Iranian missile attack on Oct. 1.
The U.S. said on Wednesday it struck five underground weapons storage locations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the latest in more than a dozen U.S. attacks on Houthi-linked targets this month.
Iran-aligned Houthi fighters in Yemen who say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s year-long war in Gaza have carried out nearly 100 attacks on ships crossing the Red Sea since November.
