Despite international efforts to broker a ceasefire in Lebanon, Israel continues to escalate airstrikes across that nation. Today, one of those strikes hit the northern village of Almat, killing at least 23 people, seven of them identified as children by Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
Rescue workers are still in the area looking for more survivors, and the toll has not been finalized. At least six survivors were reported as wounded. Almat is in a region that is strongly majority Maronite Christian, but the village’s own population is majority Shi’ite Muslim.
Israel has yet to comment on the strike on the village, but security officials reported to the AFP that an unnamed Hezbollah member was visiting one of the attacked homes. He apparently died of his wounds, along with a lot of other people.
Locals, including a man whose home was destroyed today, said civilians displaced from the Baalbek Province had relocated to Almat. It isn’t clear where the displaced will go now, or where the dozens of residents who lost homes in today’s attack will relocate.
The Israeli attacks on Sunday have killed at least 38 people in Lebanon. In addition to the 23 killed in Almat, at least 12 were reported killed in the latest strikes on Baalbek. Thus far three were reported slain in smaller strikes elsewhere.
The death toll is soaring across Lebanon as the war picks up. On Saturday, the Lebanon Health Ministry reported 53 people killed and 99 wounded nationwide. A number of children were reported slain and wounded.
