Mayor among 5 killed in Israeli air strikes in southern Lebanon

Five people were killed in an Israeli air strike on the municipal building in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon’s health ministry said on Wednesday. A Lebanese official said Israel carried out 11 air strikes on Nabatiyeh and surrounding areas, days after strikes destroyed the southern city's marketplace.

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

The town's mayor was among those killed in the strike, reported Reuters quoting security sources.

Rescue operations were ongoing, with emergency teams searching for survivors trapped under the debris.

The strike marks the latest in a series of deadly escalations as tensions flare along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Israeli air raids in southern Lebanon have intensified as the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza spills into neighbouring territories, raising fears of a broader regional war.

The United States has expressed concern over the Israeli offensive in Lebanon and adopted a harsher tone. On Tuesday, US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that Washington had conveyed its concerns to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on the recent strikes.