Israeli Airstrike in Southern Lebanon Kills 19, Including Children and Village Imam
At least 19 people, including six women and five children, were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a family home in southern Lebanon, according to a local official. Suad Hammoud told the BBC that the victims included former school principal Ahmed Ezzedine and three generations of his family, all of whom lived in a three-story house in the village of Teffahta.
Among the dead was the village’s imam, Sheikh Abdo Abo Rayya, who was passing near the home at the time of the attack. Two other passers-by also lost their lives. The Israeli military has yet to issue a statement on the incident, though it has maintained that its strikes aim to minimize civilian casualties.
Over the last month, Israel has conducted thousands of airstrikes in Lebanon, primarily targeting Hezbollah, a militant group that Israel accuses of launching attacks from the region. The airstrikes have focused on Hezbollah’s operatives, weaponry, and infrastructure.
Ms. Hammoud said the deadly strike in Teffahta occurred just hours after a funeral for Ezzedine’s cousin and brother-in-law, Khodr, who had been killed by an Israeli strike in the nearby village of Marwanieh the day before. She refuted claims by the state-run National News Agency that the attack targeted a gathering of mourners, stressing that only the house’s residents were inside at the time.
According to Ms. Hammoud, Ezzedine lived on the ground floor of the home, while his children and their families resided on the upper levels. All are believed to have been on the ground floor when the house was destroyed. The strike resulted in widespread devastation, and video footage on social media showed thick plumes of smoke rising from the rubble.
Local TV stations aired images the following day, showing the wreckage of what had once been the upper stories of the building. The Lebanese health ministry has not yet confirmed the death toll, but both Ms. Hammoud and the village’s Facebook community reported that 19 people had been killed. The Facebook account identified the five children as Mohammed Yassin, Ahmed and Malak Ezzedine, and Sara and Mohammed Kinyar. The six women were named as Zaineb, Malak, Hadiya, Fadiya, Fatima Ezzedine, and Zaina Taleb.
Ms. Hammoud explained that the houses in the village were built close together, which may have contributed to the fatalities. The two other men killed by the explosion were identified by the Facebook account as Rabih Younes and Hussein Saleh.
A relative of Sheikh Abo Rayya told the BBC that the imam had not been the intended target of the strike, emphasizing that he had merely been walking by the house on his way to the mosque. The explosion blew him off the hillside, and although he survived the initial blast, he died hours later in the hospital.
This incident follows a similar strike last week in the northern Lebanese town of Aitou, where an Israeli airstrike killed 23 people, including 12 women and two children, when a four-story residential building was destroyed. The UN has called for investigations into these attacks, raising concerns about potential violations of international humanitarian law.
Israel’s military claims its campaign, launched in response to cross-border Hezbollah rocket attacks and in support of its operations in Gaza, is necessary to ensure the safety of displaced Israeli citizens. Since the conflict began in early October, more than 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the country’s health ministry, while Israeli officials report 59 deaths in northern Israel and the Golan Heights.
