Israel kills Lebanese mayor, while World Bank laments ongoing war cost

MAIN HEADLINES

• The Israeli Navy said on Wednesday morning that it had struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in support of the 146th Division in the western sector of southern Lebanon, says the IDF. READ MORE BELOW

• An Israeli air strike on Wednesday hit the municipal building in Nabatieh, killing its mayor Ahmed Kahil and at least five others, two security sources said. READ MORE BELOW

• Israeli military evacuation orders now affect more than a quarter of Lebanon, according to the U.N. refugee agency, two weeks after Israel began incursions into the south of the country.

• The probability of an attack on Iran's nuclear sites remains low but any potential damage would be "quickly compensated", state atomic energy agency spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi told semi-official Iranian outlet Nournews. READ MORE BELOW

• EU countries that contribute to UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL in Lebanon have no intention of pulling back from the south of the country despite Israeli calls to do so, said Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg.

• The U.S. has told Israel it must take steps in the next month to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on military aid, U.S. officials said, in the strongest such warning since Israel's war with Hamas began a year ago.

• World Bank President Ajay Banga said that war damage from Israeli strikes on Gaza is now probably in the $14-20 billion range, and destruction from Israel's bombing of southern Lebanon will add to that regional total. READ MORE BELOW

IN DETAIL

Israel hits Beirut after pause

Israel on Wednesday confirmed striking Beirut overnight, after several days without targeting the Lebanese capital.

It came five hours after Hezbollah fired a rocket barrage toward the Israeli northern city of Safed early Wednesday. The army said the barrage comprised about 50 projectiles.

One of the rockets struck the yard of a home, causing minor damage, and two people were taken to hospital after being lightly hurt while running to bomb shelters, according to the northern municipality.

The last time Israel struck Beirut was last Thursday when two strikes near the city center were said to have killed 22 people and brought down entire buildings in a densely populated neighborhood.

Meanwhile, the IDF said Wednesday that over the past day, troops with the 98th Paratroopers Division in southern Lebanon have killed dozens of Hezbollah operatives and struck over 140 Hezbollah targets in more than 50 areas in Lebanon.

The military said the Hezbollah fighters were killed in face-to-face combat and airstrikes. IDF troops also discovered rocket launchers, mortars, grenades, anti-tank missiles and other arms aimed at northern Israeli towns, the army said, adding that weapon caches were destroyed both above and below ground.

The IDF has told the Israeli Times that its 8th Reserve Brigade and the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit has destroyed a tunnel and bunker network belonging to Hezbollah's Radwan force.

The army said the underground complex was situated under civilian homes and included bedrooms and weapons caches. 

It said the network was part of the Radwan force's preparations for invading northern Israel.

Bunker claim

An Israeli air strike on Wednesday on the municipal building in Nabatieh, a major town in southern Lebanon, which serves as a provincial capital, killed the mayor Ahmed Kahil and at least five others, two security sources said.

The strike came despite U.S. concerns about rising death tolls and fears of all-out war in the region as Israel battles Iran-backed Hezbollah in south Lebanon and in the capital Beirut and the Palestinian militants Hamas in Gaza.

Iran takes nuclear threat 'seriously'

Iranian atomic energy agency spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi said an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would be "quickly compensated".

After Iran's missile attack on Israel on October 1, there has been speculation that Israel could strike the facilities, as it has long threatened to do.

"We have always taken these threats seriously," Kamalvandi told semi-official Iranian outlet Nournews.

Kamalvandi said any attack on Iran's nuclear sites remained improbable and that if this happened, the damage was likely to be minimal and quickly repaired by Iran.

"We have planned in a way that if they commit any stupidity, the damages would be minimal," Kamalvandi said.

Ecomomic impact

World Bank President Ajay Banga warned on Tuesday that a significant widening of the Israel-Gaza war could lead to major impacts on the global economy.

He said war damage from Israeli strikes on Gaza is now probably in the $14-20 billion range.

Banga said the war has had a relatively small impact on the global economy, but a significant widening of the conflict would draw in other countries that are larger contributors to global growth, including commodity exporters.

"First of all, I think this unbelievable loss of life - women, children, others, civilians, is just unconscionable on all sides," Banga said. "The economic impact of this war, on the other hand, depends a great deal on how much this spreads."

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