On Monday, Israeli warplanes carried out an attack on a small apartment building in the northern Lebanese village of Aitou, in the Christian-majority Zgharta District. At least 22 people have been killed in the attack, according to the Lebanese Red Cross, which also wounded at least eight.
There has been no official comment from the Israeli military on why they attacked the Christian-majority village. That’s not unusual when the Israeli strike doesn’t appear to have had any military target or purpose.
Speculation is that the attack was primarily a revenge attack against Lebanon in general after a Sunday drone strike by Hezbollah against a northern Israeli military base killed four soldiers and wounded scores of others.
Alternatively, Israeli media has been speculating that the attack, again on a Christian village, “may have targeted a senior Hezbollah leader.” There has been no official sign that was the case, nor indeed are those making such speculation offering any name of the potential Hezbollah figure being targeted.
This northern part of Lebanon has not been considered militarily significant throughout the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah conflict, and there hadn’t been an Israeli attack anywhere near this area since the 2006 war.
Israeli attacks on explicitly Christian targets are not unheard of, at any rate. Just last week, Israel launched a missile strike against a Catholic Church in the southern area of Tyre. They destroyed the church, killing eight people, and have still offered no military justification for doing so.
Already facing growing international pariah status over their attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip, the escalation of attacks in Lebanon seems like Israel is willing to risk even more backlash.
