Israeli strike kills at least 21 in Christian town in north Lebanon

It is the first time Israel has hit the area, signalling an expansion in the military's scope

Paramedics carry a body unearthed from the rubble at the site of an Israeli air strike in the northern Lebanese village of Aito. AFP

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An Israeli strike in north Lebanon's Christian-majority Zgharta district killed at least 21 people and injured eight others, the Lebanese Red Cross said on Monday, in Israel's first attack on the area.

Lebanon's National News Agency reported the strike had targeted a residential building in the town of Aitou in Zgharta. So far, the focus of Israeli military strikes on Lebanon have been in the south, the Bekaa Valley, and parts of Beirut.

Photos of the attack show a flattened apartment building, with Lebanese Red Cross rescuers searching through rubble where body parts, covered in dust, were buried. A resident told The National the house was sheltering a displaced family from the south, including women and children, and rescue operations were still in progress.

The Israeli army did not issue a warning before the strike and has yet to release a statement.

The strike came after the Israeli military attacked an aid convoy in eastern Lebanon, injuring a driver, Lebanese state media and officials said. Baalbek-Hermel mayor Bachir Khodr, who was travelling with the convoy, posted images of the aftermath of the attack on social media, saying the group was hit near the town of Al Ain.

The five lorries, accompanied by the Red Cross, were carrying aid donated by the UAE and Turkey, Mr Khodr said, adding that a driver had been injured.

The latest strikes come as tension between Hezbollah and Israel heightens, despite the revival of peace talks. Overnight, Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told his US counterpart Lloyd Austin that Israel would deliver a “forceful response” to Hezbollah after it struck an Israeli army base killing four soldiers and wounding 67 others in the biggest attack by the group.

On Sunday, Hezbollah claimed 38 attacks on Israeli soldiers, army bases and barracks. The US embassy in Beirut has issued an advisory for its citizens in Lebanon, requesting them to leave the country immediately. “US citizens in Lebanon are strongly encouraged to depart now,” the embassy said in a notice on Monday evening, calling on Americans to look for commercial flights out of Beirut.

US citizens not planning on immediately leaving Lebanon should prepare a contingency plan, the embassy added, and should not rely on support from the US government for help or evacuation.

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. More than 2,300 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon since cross-border fighting with Hezbollah began last October, more than half of them since Israel launched an all-out war last month. Another 1.2 million have been displaced.