Israeli attacks destroy Ottoman-era market in Lebanon

Israeli air raids have destroyed an Ottoman-era market in the southern city of Nabatieh overnight, killing at least one person and wounding four.

Lebanon’s Civil Defense officials on Sunday said they battled fires in 12 residential buildings and 40 shops in the market, which dates back to 1910.

“Our livelihoods have all been levelled to the ground,” said Ahmad Fakih, whose corner shop was destroyed.

Rescuers were searching for survivors and remains in the pancaked buildings early on Sunday as Israeli drones buzzed overhead.

Nabatieh was one of dozens of communities across southern Lebanon that Israel has warned people to evacuate, even as the city hosts people who have already been displaced.

The conflict in Lebanon dramatically escalated in September with a wave of Israeli attacks that killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and most of his senior commanders. Israel launched a ground operation into southern Lebanon earlier this month.

In a separate incident, the Lebanese Red Cross said paramedics were searching for bodies in the wreckage of a house destroyed by an Israeli air raid on southern Lebanon on Sunday when a second attack left four paramedics with concussions and damaged two ambulances.

Israeli forces have repeatedly fired upon first responders and United Nations peacekeepers since the start of the ground operation. Israel, without providing evidence, accuses Hezbollah of using ambulances to ferry fighters and weapons, saying Hezbollah operates in the vicinity of the peacekeepers.

At least 2,255 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of the conflict, including more than 1,400 people since September, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. At least 54 people have been killed in the rocket attacks on Israel, nearly half of them soldiers, according to Israeli officials.