'Like a horror movie': Lebanon's Nabatieh devastated by Israeli air strikes as Netanyahu threatens UN troops

Israeli PM claims UN peacekeepers are 'human shields' for Hezbollah

Fires burn after an Israeli air strike on the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh. AFP

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Scenes in Lebanon's southern city of Nabatieh have been likened to a “horror movie” after a night of intense Israeli air strikes, with much of the city's commercial heartland completely destroyed.

The city's market was turned into a “mass of rubble and debris” after being struck by Israeli jets, according to the National News Agency, which also likened the destruction to the aftermath of a “hurricane”.

“The scene in the morning resembled a horror movie,” NNA reported, describing “massive destruction” and “smoke rising everywhere” as rescuers searched through rubble for survivors.

Israel launched intense air strikes across Lebanon and sent its troops across the border late last month after nearly a year of low-level cross-border exchanges of fire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. The UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, Unifil, has also been subjected to attacks including the firing of shots at its headquarters in Naqoura and an incursion by Israeli troops at one of its posts on Sunday in what it called a "flagrant violation of international law".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday demanded that the UN peacekeepers be moved out of southern Lebanon “immediately”.

In a video message addressed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Mr Netanyahu said Unifil's refusal to leave their positions “aim to provide human shields for Hezbollah”.

“I would like to appeal directly to the UN Secretary General: it is time for you to remove Unifil from Hezbollah's strongholds and from the fighting areas,” he said in the video posted to X.

“Your refusal to evacuate the Unifil soldiers makes them hostages of Hezbollah. This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers.”

“Mr Secretary General, get the Unifil forces out of harm's way. It should be done right now, immediately.”

On Sunday, 40 nations issued a statement condemning the attacks, including Britain, France, China, Turkey and Brazil. They said such incidents “must stop immediately”.

Shortly after Mr Netanyahu's call, Unifil accused Israeli troops of breaking through the gate of its post in Ramyah with tanks and later firing rounds in the area that released smoke that caused 15 members to fall ill.

"At around 4.30am, while peacekeepers were in shelters, two IDF Merkava tanks destroyed the position’s main gate and forcibly entered the position. They requested multiple times that the base turn out its lights. The tanks left about 45 minutes later after Unifil protested through our liaison mechanism, saying that IDF presence was putting peacekeepers in danger," Unifil said.

At about 6.40am, the peacekeepers at Ramyah reported the firing of several rounds 100 metres north, which emitted smoke, it said. "Despite putting on protective masks, 15 peacekeepers suffered effects, including skin irritation and gastrointestinal reactions, after the smoke entered the camp. The peacekeepers are receiving treatment."

Israeli troops also stopped a critical Unifil logistical movement near Meiss El Jebel from passing, Unifil said. "For the fourth time in as many days, we remind the IDF and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times."

Unifil representative Andrea Tenenti told AFP on Saturday that the Israeli military had asked Unifil to withdraw from some of its positions, but “there was a unanimous decision to stay” in the area.

Elsewhere in Lebanon, at least three people were killed and dozens wounded in overnight Israeli strikes, with mosques and residential buildings destroyed in attacks across the country.

Israeli shelling “has not stopped all night”, NNA reported on Sunday morning, including artillery attacks on the towns of Kfar Kila, Khiam and Marjayoun in the south.

Lebanese army soldiers deploy around a destroyed building hit by an Israeli air strike in Barja village, south of Beirut. Photo: AP

Hezbollah claimed to have killed several Israeli soldiers in IED attacks near southern villages, including the border area of Ramyeh where “violent shelling” was reported at dawn. Israeli media said several injured soldiers were flown to Rambam Hospital in Haifa, with the army later confirming two were seriously hurt in fighting.

The army also later claimed to have captured a Hezbollah fighter in a bunker in southern Lebanon, the first such incident since the war began.

Hours earlier, three people were killed in an Israeli strike on a civilian vehicle in the Bekaa valley, with eight others wounded in attacks across the area that damaged several hospitals. Four paramedics with the Lebanese Red Cross were injured in an air strike on a home in the southern town of Sarbin while attempting to help victims from a previous attack, NNA said.

Lebanese state media said the Israeli army stepped up attacks on the Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts, with heavy machinegun fire reported in several areas and shelling on the outskirts of Naqoura. An air strike also hit a building on the Zefta-Nabatieh road, destroying the structure after it was partially damaged in an Israeli hit last week.

Hezbollah said cluster bombs were dropped on Bint Jbeil on Sunday morning, between the villages of Hanine and Al Tiri.

“We were not surprised at all by the new barbaric crime that is added to its series of crimes against the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples after its blatant failure in the field of direct confrontation,” the militant group said.

Others were wounded in a strike on a civil defence centre in Tyre, with NNA reporting the Israeli army attempted to “paralyse medical and emergency services”.

An estimated 2,255 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon since cross-border fighting with Hezbollah began in October last year, more than half of them since Israel launched all-out war late last month. More than 1.2 million people have been displaced, most of whom fled their homes as Israel intensified air strikes in recent weeks before launching a ground invasion on October 1. Hundreds of thousands have fled into Syria, where the Israeli army has also launched air strikes.

The Israeli military claimed to have hit 200 Hezbollah sites in Lebanon overnight and into Sunday, killing dozens of militants and uncovering tunnel shafts in the south. On Saturday, 15 were killed in strikes on several Lebanese villages, including Deir Billa near the coastal city of Batroun.

In Israel, several Hezbollah rocket barrages were fired into the north on Sunday morning, with sirens sounding in Haifa, Nahariya, Acre and elsewhere. A “suspicious aerial target” was intercepted from Lebanon early on Sunday, the Israeli army said on X.