BEIRUT: Israel killed at least 19 people in an airstrike on the Christian-majority town of Aitou in the north of Lebanon on Monday, the Lebanese Red Cross said.
The strike hit Aitou, located between Ehden and Zgharta. Operations across Lebanon also targeted towns in the south and Bekaa.
The building targeted by the strike was three stories high and had been rented five days earlier by a person from the Faqih family, originally from the border town of Aitaroun.
It was rented to house 25 people who had initially fled Aitaroun to the southern town of Srifa and from there moved to Aitou.
The increased intensity of Israeli attacks, along with the rising number of civilian Lebanese casualties, followed a severe blow to the Israeli military on Sunday night.
Hezbollah used a combat drone to target a training camp belonging to the Golani Brigade in Binyamina, south of Haifa, killing at least four soldiers and wounding more than 65 others.
The Israeli government stated that it “will not tolerate the recent strikes in Haifa and Herzliya.”
The attack was “difficult and painful,” said Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, while he inspected the training base on Monday.
The intensity of the Israeli strikes on Monday reached the point where dozens of airstrikes hit 12 towns in the Bekaa region within a few minutes.
The most dangerous was near a convoy of aid trucks bearing Red Cross flags passing through the town of Ain en route to Ras Baalbek.
One driver was injured, and the trucks were damaged due to the strike’s impact.
Caretaker Public Works and Transport Minister Ali Hamieh, who was following up on the convoy, said he was “surprised by the Israeli shelling near a truck bearing Red Cross flags after obtaining UN coverage to deliver the aid.”
Bashir Khadr, governor of Baalbek-Hermel, confirmed that “the trucks continued on their route despite the damages and successfully reached Ras Baalbek. The aid remained undamaged.”
A raid on the town of Sarbin on Sunday resulted in injuries to four Lebanese Red Cross paramedics and damage to two of their vehicles.
Israel said on Monday it captured a man in a Lebanese border town “named Waddah Younis, hailing from the town of Hula in the Marjeyoun district,” believed to be a member of Hezbollah.
Arab News learned that contact was lost with Younis, aged 50, around a week ago following an Israeli ground incursion into the town of Blida.
The party has not issued a statement confirming his capture.
He is the first member of Hezbollah to be taken prisoner in the support war for Gaza that Hezbollah initiated after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 last year .
The UN Special Coordinator in Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, emphasized that the UN was “doing everything possible to create an opportunity for diplomatic solutions to the current situation” after talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Hezbollah has authorized Berri to communicate with external parties regarding a ceasefire.
She stated: “It is essential to clarify that Resolution 1701 must be implemented by both parties to achieve a solution.
“The various provisions included in Resolution 1701 must be implemented, and the current situation does not allow for any partial implementation of the resolution.
“The discussion with Speaker Berri focused on the mechanisms for applying Resolution 1701, as we are keen to ensure that history does not repeat itself concerning this resolution.”
She stressed: “We need a ceasefire, as it is difficult to talk during a war.”
The official stated that both the UN and external organizations were coordinating to address humanitarian needs.
On Monday, no incidents of Israeli aggression against UNIFIL forces in the border area were reported.
In a conversation with UNIFIL Commander Gen. Aroldo Lazaro, Berri commended his “wise and courageous stance in maintaining UNIFIL forces at their positions under their assigned tasks.”
According to his media office, Berri affirmed that “this step preserves the integrity of Resolution 1701.”
Hezbollah condemned what it deemed a “violation of the sanctity of Lebanese territory, sovereignty, and laws by the entry of a BBC team into a southern village accompanied by the Israeli army and the publication of reports by the institution.”
In a statement, Hezbollah called for “the necessary legal measures to be taken against BBC and its teams in Lebanon.”
As Israeli forces continued their attempts to penetrate the border area, Israeli artillery targeted a house in the town of Debel, located near the town’s church.
The Israeli military had previously requested that residents evacuate, but the inhabitants insisted on remaining.
This shelling was followed by an airstrike, resulting in injuries to a young girl while a family of five managed to escape unharmed.
Fr. Fadi Falfala, the parish priest, stated: “The residents are staying in their town and have not relocated to any other area.”
Airstrikes on a residence in Khirbet Selm killed two people, while two others died in an attack on a house in the town of Ansar.
Additionally, airstrikes on two homes in the town of Maaroub led to four injuries, two of which were critical.
The Israeli military again employed incendiary phosphorus bombs in its attacks on the south.
It announced that it eliminated “Mohammed Kamel Naeem, the commander of the anti-tank missile system in the Radwan Force affiliated with Hezbollah, through airstrikes targeting Nabatieh.”
The spokesperson for the Israeli military, Avichai Adraee, issued additional evacuation requests for residents in the south, naming 25 towns located north of the Litani River in the Nabatieh region and the Deir El Zahrani area.
Aerial reconnaissance aircraft returned to the skies over Beirut and its southern suburbs after a two-day hiatus, while a cautious calm prevailed in the neighborhoods of the southern suburbs, allowing residents to retrieve their belongings from homes that remain intact.
In the Bekaa, the simultaneous Israeli raids included villages in the Baalbek district, targeting Duris, Bourdai, Safri, Sareen, and Brital.
Hezbollah said it targeted “two gatherings of enemy forces in the Ramot Naftali settlement and the Rweisat Al-Alam site in the occupied Kfarchouba hills.”
It added that it targeted an Israeli force attempting to infiltrate the town of Markaba, and foiled an attempt by a group of soldiers to advance toward the town of Aita Al-Shaab, striking a gathering of soldiers south of Maroun Al-Ras with artillery shells.
Hezbollah said it also targeted “a concentration of Israeli forces in Labouneh and Khillat Wardaeh.”
Hezbollah targeted a rehabilitation and maintenance center south of Haifa, the Stella Maris naval base northwest of Haifa, and the Beit Lid barracks east of Netanya.
The group also attacked the Kiryat Shmona settlement and the Zibdin barracks in the occupied Shebaa Farms of Lebanon.
