An Israeli airstrike reportedly killed nearly two dozen people in a Christian town in Lebanon on Monday amid Israel’s ongoing and rapidly escalating conflict with Hezbollah, according to multiple reports.
Israel has been in frequent conflict with Hezbollah since late 2023 but hostilities have grown sharply in recent weeks and months, as Israeli forces have dealt significant blows to the terrorist group’s fighting forces and military capabilities. Israel is continuing airstrikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon but targeted the north on Monday and hit the town of Aitou, which is a majority-Christian town, according to multiple reports. (RELATED: World’s Largest State Sponsor Of Terrorism Sets Sights On New Goal: Become A Vacation Destination)
The strike killed at least 21 people and injured eight, Lebanese health officials said, according to Reuters. It hit a house that had been rented out to displaced families; rescue workers were quickly on the scene to search through the rubble for survivors.
TOPSHOT – An Israeli fighter jet returning to base flies above an area near Tel Aviv on September 26, 2024. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP via Getty Images)
Strikes have typically been conducted in southern Lebanon — which borders Israel and houses the majority of Hezbollah forces — but Israel has seemingly expanded its range of operations, according to Reuters. Israel has made several evacuation orders for citizens throughout southern Lebanon to move north.
Hezbollah also launched rocket strikes against Israel on Monday, but those were intercepted, according to The New York Times. Hezbollah drone strikes against an Israeli military base over the weekend killed four Israeli soldiers and injured dozens more; the drones appeared to evade typical air defense systems, posing a potentially new challenge for Israel, as a majority of Hezbollah attacks up until this point have been rocket launches.
Israel’s current war in the Middle East began last year in Gaza against Hamas, which invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and killed approximately 1,200 people, but the conflict has now largely shifted toward Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran. Israel has managed to kill thousands of Hezbollah fighters in recent weeks through a variety of means, including airstrikes and rigged explosives, as well as the terrorist group’s chief, Hassan Nasrallah.
Israel appears to be pressing harder at Hezbollah over the last week, although it has turned somewhat chaotic as peaceful actors have become involved in the crossfire, such as in the case of the strikes against Aitou. Israeli forces have recently fired at United Nations (UN) peacekeepers in Lebanon, which Israel claims are in the way of their attempts to strike Hezbollah and need to evacuate, according to Reuters. The UN peacekeepers have so far refused to leave.
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