Israeli strike kills Christian official in Lebanon
The death of a local official from a Christian political party in an Israeli attack on an apartment in eastern Beirut has further sharpened internal divisions over Hezbollah as Israeli attacks spread to new parts of the country.
The war that raged in Lebanon last month has deepened fissures between Hezbollah supporters and those who accuse the Iran-backed group of fueling a new conflict with Israel just 15 months after the last one.
Lebanon’s health ministry said a man and two women were killed Sunday in an Israeli attack on an apartment in Ain Saadeh, a predominantly Christian town in the hills east of Beirut.
The mayor of Ain Saadeh said the victims were one floor below the targeted apartment.
The Lebanese Power Party, a staunchly anti-Hezbollah Christian party, said two of the dead were local party official Pierre Moawad and his wife Flavia.
“We are paying a heavy price for a war in which we were dragged by the lawless organization Hezbollah,” Lebanese Forces deputy Razi El Hage told Lebanese broadcaster MTV. he said.
According to Lebanese officials, more than 1,460 people died in the large-scale air and ground operation launched by Israel in retaliation for Hezbollah opening fire on Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Iran.
The air campaign and Israeli orders for people to leave areas in southern and eastern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut have displaced more than a million people, mostly from the Shiite Muslim community from which Hezbollah draws its support.
Some residents and local officials living in Christian-majority areas have expressed concern that displaced communities harbor militants who could be targeted by Israel, and that local authorities are screening those seeking rental accommodation.
Anti-Hezbollah Christian lawmaker Nadim Gemayel told Reuters in March that he was concerned that Israel was deliberately pushing Shiites into other parts of Lebanon to create conflict with other communities.
There were no Israeli military orders for people to flee before Sunday’s attack.
Residents said no displaced persons lived in the targeted apartment or surrounding buildings.
The Israeli military told Reuters it had hit “a terrorist target east of Beirut”, without giving further details.
The statement said, “Reports that many people unrelated to the incident were harmed as a result of the strike are being examined.”
Although the previous war with Hezbollah ended with a ceasefire in 2024, Israel continued its attacks on Lebanon and deployed its soldiers in the south of the country.
Lebanon’s calls for Israel to negotiate a new ceasefire fell on deaf ears.
Sunday’s strike came just hours after Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in his first televised address since the outbreak of war that the country’s “primary concern is to maintain civil peace, which is the red line.”
A separate Israeli attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut killed five people, while a man and his wife were killed and their two children injured in an attack on a car in southern Lebanon.
