Mayor of Lebanon city among 25 dead in Israel strikes

Ahmad Kahil killed while holding municipal council meet to discuss relief efforts for his town of Nabatiyeh, says Lebanese officials

ISRAELI airstrikes pounded areas across Lebanon, killing at least 25 people, officials said Wednesday, including more than a dozen in a southern town where Israeli bombardments in previous conflicts are seared into local memory.

Elsewhere in the south, a city's mayor was among the dead in a strike that Lebanese officials said targeted a meeting to coordinate relief efforts.

The Israeli military said they were targeting a Hezbollah commander in the strikes late Tuesday on the southern town of Qana, where 15 people were killed. Associated Press photos and video of the scene showed several flattened buildings and others with their top floors collapsed. Rescue workers carried away the remains of dead people and used a bulldozer to remove rubble, as they searched for more victims.

Strikes continued across Lebanon, including in the eastern Bekaa Valley and Nabatiyeh, in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah command centers and weapons facilities that had been embedded in civilian areas. Hezbollah launched more than 90 projectiles towards Israel on Wednesday, wounding four civilians, according to Israel Rescue Services.