At least 21 people have been reported killed, and eight others injured, following a rare Israeli airstrike in northern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
The strike targeted a residential building in Aitou, a predominantly Christian village located far from areas where the Israeli military has conducted thousands of strikes against the armed Shia Islamist group Hezbollah.
Residents noted that a family recently displaced by the war had been living in the building that was struck.
The Israeli military has not yet commented on the reports. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to “continue to strike Hezbollah without mercy everywhere in Lebanon, including Beirut.”
“Everything is according to operational considerations. We have proven this recently and we will continue to prove it in the coming days as well,” he added.
He was speaking during a visit to a military base in northern Israel where a drone launched by the Iran-backed group killed four Israeli soldiers and wounded dozens on Sunday night.
The military said it was investigating how the drone evaded its sophisticated air defence systems and hit the Golani Brigade training facility near the town of Binyamina.
It was one of Hezbollah’s deadliest attacks on Israel in over a year of cross-border fighting sparked by the war in Gaza.
Hezbollah said it was a response to deadly Israeli attacks in Lebanon, which the country’s health ministry says has killed almost 1,700 people over the past month.
Most of the Israeli air strikes over the past week have struck in the majority Shia south and the Bekaa Valley in the east – areas where Hezbollah is strong.
Aitou, a Maronite Christian community located in the mountains near the north-western coastal city of Tripoli, was not a place which would have expected to be attacked.
“Oh mother Mary,” gasped one man as he walked through the devastation wrought on the village.
Amidst the smoke and dust, bodies were visible on the ground following the airstrike. Residents reported that there was no warning before the single, massive blast. They noted that several families displaced by the war in the south had recently relocated to Aitou, and the house that was hit had been rented out just two weeks ago.
A Lebanese security source informed the AFP news agency that the building was “targeted shortly after a man arrived in a car.” The Lebanese health ministry stated that DNA tests are being conducted to identify the remains recovered by first responders at the scene.
Israel’s military operations have primarily focused on the eastern suburbs of Beirut and the south, where there have been incidents involving UN peacekeepers.
On Monday, a spokesperson for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) reiterated that peacekeepers in southern Lebanon would remain in their positions, despite Israeli calls for withdrawal.
The UN Security Council has expressed strong concern regarding injuries sustained by some UN troops during the Israeli military’s offensive against Hezbollah.
On the same day, the Israeli military reported that a strike in the southern Nabatieh area killed the commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force anti-tank unit, though Hezbollah has yet to comment on this.
Additionally, the military stated that it had targeted Hezbollah launchers used to fire multiple rockets into central and northern Israel on Monday.
Most rockets were intercepted or landed in open areas. A woman was lightly injured due to a barrage of 15 rockets aimed at the northern town of Karmiel.
Israeli police also reported that debris from an interception fell in Holon, south of Tel Aviv, but did not cause any injuries or damage. The Israeli military claimed that Hezbollah fired approximately 115 projectiles into Israel on Monday.
Early Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that over the past day, Israel’s air force had struck “more than 200 Hezbollah terrorist targets in southern Lebanon and deep within Lebanon, including terrorist cells, anti-tank missile posts, and surface-to-surface missile launchers,” in coordination with ground troops.
In southern Lebanon, it said it eliminated “dozens of terrorists”, dismantled Hezbollah infrastructure and located “vast quantities” of weapons and equipment.