Lebanese officials report that the death toll from Israeli strikes in Nabatiyeh has risen to 16

Israel's military launched airstrikes early Wednesday on Hezbollah-controlled areas in southern Lebanon and beyond Beirut.

The attack involved at least 10 airstrikes and resulted in what "resembled a fire belt," Nabatiyeh Governor Howaida Turk told Lebanon's.

Lebanese officials said that at least 16 persons, including the mayor of the city, were killed and over 52 injured in attacks that struck municipal buildings in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon. According to Najib Mikati, the acting prime minister of Lebanon, the attacks were directed at a municipal council meeting. Many people of Nabatieh, one of the biggest cities in southern Lebanon, have fled amid recent Israeli evacuation advisories, and the Israeli military claimed to have hit Hezbollah targets in and around the city.

Ahmad Kahil, the mayor of Nabatiyeh, and his associates were among the deceased. On Wednesday morning, Israel struck the city as its leaders were in the municipal offices attending a daily crisis management meeting.

The state news agency of Lebanon, NNA, reports that the strikes also affected a university, residential structures, and local markets. According to Turk, a mosque and other historic sites were also damaged.

“We condemn the attack that targeted a government building which had been welcoming and providing aid to displaced people,” Turk said.

In Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces reported Wednesday that it had hit dozens of Hezbollah sites in an effort to destroy what it said was "underground infrastructure used by Hezbollah's Radwan Forces."

According to a statement from Israel's military, two attacks in the Haret Hreik area on the southern suburbs of Beirut targeted Hezbollah's underground weapon storage facilities. They arrived roughly an hour after an Israeli military spokesperson used Arabic to advise locals to keep at least 500 meters away from a nearby building.

Haret Hreik, which suffered significant damage from Israeli airstrikes during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, is a part of the Dahiya, a set of districts south of Beirut where the armed group is dominant. Israel has been hitting the region often since last month as part of an effort to eliminate Hezbollah's weapons and kill its leaders.