By Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The mayor of a significant city in south Lebanon was amongst 16 individuals killed when an Israeli airstrike destroyed its municipal headquarters within the largest assault on an official Lebanese state constructing because the Israeli air marketing campaign started.

Lebanese officers denounced the incident, which additionally wounded greater than 50 individuals in Nabatieh, a provincial capital, saying it was proof that Israel’s marketing campaign in opposition to the Hezbollah armed group was now shifting to focus on the Lebanese state.

The Israelis “intentionally targeted a meeting of the municipal council to discuss the city’s service and relief situation” to assist individuals displaced by the Israeli marketing campaign, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati mentioned.

The U.N. mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mentioned its peacekeepers noticed an Israeli tank firing at their watchtower close to southern Lebanon’s Kfar Kela on Wednesday morning. Two cameras have been destroyed, and the tower was broken, UNIFIL mentioned.

There was no instant remark from the Israeli navy on the UNIFIL assertion.

Israel has beforehand known as on the United Nations to maneuver members of the UNIFIL peacekeeping drive in southern Lebanon out of the fight zone for his or her security.

UNIFIL says its troops have come underneath Israeli assault a number of occasions, although Israel has disputed accounts of these incidents.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, on a go to to northern Israel close to the border, mentioned Israel wouldn’t halt its assault on Hezbollah to permit negotiations.

“We will hold negotiations only under fire. I said this on day one, I said it in Gaza and I am saying it here,” he mentioned in keeping with an announcement from his workplace.

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin on Wednesday spoke to Gallant and “reinforced the importance of taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of UNIFIL forces and the Lebanese Armed Forces,” in keeping with the Division of Protection.

Israel launched its floor and air marketing campaign in Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah after a yr throughout which the Iran-backed militant group fired throughout the border in help of the Palestinian militants Hamas in Gaza.

In current weeks Israel has assassinated Hezbollah’s senior management and pushed into southern border cities, saying its intention is to make it secure for tens of 1000’s of Israelis to return to houses in Israel’s north evacuated underneath Hezbollah hearth.

Israel first issued an evacuation discover for Nabatieh, a metropolis of tens of 1000’s of individuals, on Oct. 3. On the time, the town’s Mayor Ahmed Kahil instructed Reuters he wouldn’t depart.

Requested about Israeli strike on Nabatieh, State Division spokesperson Matthew Miller declined to touch upon the circumstances of particular strikes however mentioned the U.S. understands Hezbollah operates from locations like civilian houses and supported restricted strikes to focus on the group.

“Obviously, we’d not want to see entire villages destroyed. We don’t want to see civilian homes destroyed,” Miller mentioned.

Israel mentioned on Wednesday it struck dozens of Hezbollah targets within the Nabatieh space and its navy additionally hit dozens of targets in southern Lebanon.

It mentioned it had “dismantled” a tunnel community utilized by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces within the coronary heart of a city close to the border with Israel, publishing a video displaying a number of explosions rocking a cluster of buildings. Lebanese officers mentioned it was the small city of Mhaibib.

STRIKES RESUME ON SOUTHERN BEIRUT SUBURBS

Israeli warplanes on Wednesday additionally hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, within the first assault on the town since Oct. 10, when two strikes close to the town centre killed 22 individuals and introduced down complete buildings in a densely populated neighbourhood.

Israeli operations in Lebanon have killed a minimum of 2,350 individuals over the past yr, in keeping with the well being ministry, and greater than 1.2 million individuals have been displaced.

The U.N. says 1 / 4 of the nation is underneath evacuation orders. The toll doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants however consists of tons of of girls and kids.

Round 50 Israelis, each troopers and civilians, have been killed in the identical interval, in keeping with Israel.

Having lengthy accused UNIFIL of failing in its mission to maintain armed fighters out of the border space, Israel adopted a extra conciliatory tone earlier on Wednesday.

“The State of Israel places great importance on the activities of UNIFIL and has no intention of harming the organization or its personnel,” International Minister Israel Katz mentioned in an announcement.

The ten,000-strong peacekeeper drive contains contingents from 50 nations, together with 2,500 Italian, French and Spanish troopers, inflicting pressure between Israel and a few of its most outstanding European allies.