Lebanon says 5 dead in Israeli strikes on Nabatiyeh municipality

Lebanon said five people were killed in Israeli strikes Wednesday on municipality buildings in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, where Hezbollah and ally Amal hold sway, with an official saying the mayor was among the dead.

The attacks were among 11 strikes on Nabatiyeh city and its surroundings that created "a kind of belt of fire" in the area, the local official had earlier told AFP.

"The Israeli enemy raid... on two buildings, that of the Nabatiyeh municipality and the union of municipalities, killed five people," the health ministry said in a statement.

It added that the death toll was preliminary and that rescuers were still searching for survivors under the rubble.

"The mayor of Nabatiyeh, among others... was martyred. It's a massacre," Nabatiyeh governor Howaida Turk told AFP.

She added that the mayor, Ahmad Kahil, had been in the municipality building with his team during a daily crisis management meeting.

Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers also told AFP the mayor was among several people killed in the strike on the municipality building.

They also said the strikes destroyed the municipality building and a nearby medical facility, with two doctors among the dead.

AFP footage showed several plumes of grey smoke rising from Nabatiyeh, following the consecutive strikes.

On Saturday, Israeli strikes razed the city's main marketplace and wounded eight people there, the health ministry had said.

At least 1,356 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched an intense air campaign on September 23, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.

The escalation followed nearly a year of cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israeli troops over the Gaza war.