Mayor among 27 killed in jet strikes on southern Lebanon and Beirut
Airstrikes overnight and on Wednesday morning have disrupted the relative calm in Lebanon's capital Beirut, ITV News Correspondent John Ray reports
A city mayor is among at least 27 people who have been killed in strikes on southern Lebanon and Beirut on Wednesday morning.
Lebanese officials attributed the attacks to Israeli jets.
The strikes follow a night of attacks on Lebanon, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue to strike the country "without mercy".
The airstrikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs early on Wednesday morning, Lebanese state media reported, the first attack on the area in several days.
“We will continue to strike Hezbollah without mercy everywhere in Lebanon, including Beirut,” Netanyahu said at the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Golani Brigade Training Base on Tuesday.
Several explosions were seen in Beirut on Wednesday morning, as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah intensifies
Since escalating its war against the Iran-backed militant group, Israel has been attacking the Lebanese capital and other areas in the south of the country with unprecedented intensity.
The strikes have often target crowded areas and destroy residential buildings.
Hezbollah acting leader Sheikh Naim Kassem declared on Tuesday that the Lebanese militant group will ramp up attacks on Israel in response to an Israeli airstrike on Monday on an apartment building in northern Lebanon that killed at least 22 people.
The attack on the village of Aito destroyed an entire building that was housing people who had already fled the bombardment in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Red Cross reported.
Israel said it struck a target belonging to Hezbollah.
According to the state-run National News Agency, an Israeli airstrike on Qana in Tyre province in southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed at least one person and wounded 30, with many believed to be trapped under the rubble. The Israeli military claimed to be targeting a Hezbollah commander.
In the same province, persistent airstrikes targeted villages including Al-Qasimiyah, Ain Baal, Aita al-Jabal, Majdalzon, and Al-Mansouri, according to the agency.
The United Nations meanwhile has called for an investigation into Monday's attack, and expressed “strong concern” after Israel wounded UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon during intensified fighting.
The comments were the first made by the UN’s most powerful body since Israel's attacks on the positions of the peacekeeping force UNIFIL began last week, drawing international condemnation.
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More than 1,400 people in Lebanon, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million displaced in the past month.
That includes a total of 400,000 children just in the last three weeks, according to UNICEF.
Around 60 Israelis have been killed in Hezbollah strikes in the past year.
Israel says it wants to drive the militant group away from the border so some 60,000 displaced Israelis can return to their homes.
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