BEIRUT(National Times)- Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Sunday killed at least 15 people, including a local official from a Christian political party, a day after Israel threatened to hit Lebanon’s main border crossing with Syria, forcing it to close.
Israel has launched airstrikes across Lebanon as well as a ground invasion in the south since March 2, when Hezbollah entered the Middle East war on the side of its backer Iran.
One of Israel’s strikes in Beirut on Sunday killed at least five people and wounded 52 in the Jnah neighbourhood, the Lebanese health ministry said.
A strike targeting an apartment building in Ain Saadeh town east of Beirut killed three people and injured three others, while a strike in the southern town of Kfar Hatta, far from the border with Israel, killed seven people including a four-year-old girl, the ministry said.
Christian political party official, his wife among deceased
The Lebanese Forces Party identified two of the dead as Pierre Moawad, a local party official, and his wife Flavia.
Hezbollah on Sunday claimed to have fired a cruise missile at an Israeli warship off the coast, but the Israeli military said it was “not aware” of such an incident.
126 children killed
Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the start of the war have killed more than 1,400 people, including 126 children, and displaced over a million, according to Lebanese authorities.
The strike in Beirut’s Jnah neighbourhood landed about 100 metres from the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the largest public medical facility in Lebanon.
Zakaria Tawbeh, deputy head of the hospital, said they received “four killed, three Sudanese and a 15-year old girl, and 31 wounded”.
After the first attack, 53-year-old Jnah resident Nancy Hassan thought she was safe at home.
“Shortly after, the Israeli planes were flying overhead, and we heard a huge bang, then stones rained down on us,” she said.
Nancy lost her daughter in an Israeli strike on the same area during the 2024 strikes by Israel.
“My daughter was killed; she was 23 years old. Today, her friends were killed. Every time, they bomb us in the neighbourhood without warning,” she added.
Israel also launched several strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon warned that attacks near its positions “could potentially draw return fire”.
A day earlier, Israel had said it would target the Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, the main gateway between the two countries.
Syrian border
“Due to Hezbollah’s use of the Masnaa crossing for military purposes and smuggling of combat equipment, the (Israeli army) intends to carry out strikes on the crossing in the near future,” said Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee, urging people to leave the area.
The border post was quickly evacuated on the Lebanese side.
In Syria, borders and customs public relations director Mazen Aloush insisted the crossing was exclusively used by civilians but said it would close temporarily due to the threats.
Masnaa is a vital trade route for both countries and a key gateway to the rest of the region for Lebanese people.
Military expert Hassan Jouni said Israel’s threat to strike the crossing “is not based on sound security considerations but rather aims to pressure the Lebanese government… to disarm Hezbollah”. “We are paying a heavy price for a war into which we have been dragged by the lawless organisation Hezbollah,” Lebanese Forces parliamentarian Razi El Hage told Lebanese broadcaster MTV.
Israel’s air campaign and orders for people to leave swathes of Lebanon’s south, east, and Beirut’s southern suburbs have displaced more than a million people, most of them from the Shia Muslim community.
