Israel Resumes Airstrikes in Lebanon, Targeting Hezbollah Weapons, as Biden Administration Raises Concerns
Municipal building hit in Nabatiyeh, killing mayor and council members, as IDF targets Hezbollah weapons cache.
Israeli forces have resumed airstrikes in Lebanon on Wednesday after a pause of several days. The military strikes come just hours after the Biden Administration came out against the scope of Israelâs bombing campaign.
Multiple military attacks were carried out across the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to The Washington Post, including one airstrike on a municipal building in the town of Nabatiyeh that left five dead, including Mayor Ahmad Kahil and several city council members.
According to a telegram channel operated by the Israel Defense Forces, their target was an underground warehouse alleged to have been used by Hezbollah to store a cache of weapons.
Lebanonâs Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, accused Israel of deliberately attacking the municipal building during a meeting of the townâs municipal council.
âThis new aggression, coupled with all the crimes committed by the Israeli enemy against civilians, is a sign that the world is deliberately silent about the crimes of the occupation,â Mr. Mikati said in a statement to Lebanese state media.
IDF officials refuted these claims in a post on their X account, saying, â[U]nder the precise intelligence guidance of the Intelligence Division, strategic weapons that were stored in an underground warehouse of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Daâiyah in Beirut.â
âBefore the attack, many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including advance warnings to the population in the area.â
Israeli forces confirmed in a separate statement that they had attacked more than 140 targets across 50 different locations in Lebanon over the past day.
The barrage of airstrikes came just one day after American officials publicly commented that they were opposed to the size and scope of the military offensive.
âThere are specific strikes that it would be appropriate for Israel to carry out, but when it comes to the scope and nature of the bombing campaign that we saw in Beirut over the past few weeks, itâs something that we made clear to the government of Israel we had concerns with and we are opposed to,â State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a press briefing on Tuesday.
