At least 11 people were killed in separate Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on Sunday, authorities said, in one of the deadliest days since cross-border hostilities escalated earlier this month.
Lebanon's health ministry reported that seven people died in an attack on the village of Kfarhata in the south, among them a 4-year-old child. The strike occurred after the Israeli military had issued an overnight evacuation notice directing residents to leave the village.
In Beirut, the health ministry said an Israeli strike in the Jnah neighbourhood killed four people and wounded 39 others. Throughout the day the capital echoed with the sounds of strikes and the buzzing of low-flying aircraft, according to multiple accounts conveyed by state media.
State outlets also reported that the southern suburbs of Beirut were struck by eight air raids. Earlier on Sunday the Lebanese army said a soldier had been killed in a separate Israeli strike in southern Lebanon.
The attacks coincided with Easter Sunday services for Lebanon's Christian community, which the article notes comprises roughly one third of the country's population. The timing made the day one of the most violent since the recent surge in fighting between Israel and Lebanese armed groups.
On Saturday the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for the Masnaa border crossing with Syria, a key entry point between the two countries, saying it was being used for military purposes by the Lebanese Hezbollah armed group. The warning targeted the crossing and was separate from evacuation notices issued elsewhere along the border region.
Lebanon was pulled into a wider regional confrontation when Iran-backed Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel on March 2 in stated support of Tehran. In response, Israel has conducted strikes across Lebanon and moved forces into the south, actions described in the article as the most violent spillover of the wider U.S.-Israeli campaign involving Iran.
The article cites casualty figures reported by various parties. It says that by late March more than 400 Hezbollah fighters had been killed, according to sources. The Israeli military reported at least 10 Israeli troops killed in southern Lebanon in the same period. Lebanon's health ministry put the overall death toll from Israeli attacks in Lebanon at 1,461 as of Sunday, an increase of 39 fatalities in roughly 24 hours. More than one million people have been displaced.
Israel has stated it intends to control a "security zone" extending as far as 30 km (20 miles) inside Lebanese territory, and it has issued evacuation orders covering about 15% of Lebanon's land area. Despite those orders, tens of thousands of residents in the south remain in their homes. The article highlights a group of roughly 9,000 Lebanese Christians living in a cluster of border towns who said they were determined to stay.
Contextual notes
The reporting lays out a sequence of attacks, evacuation orders and official casualty counts without drawing conclusions about longer-term outcomes. It records the deaths, injuries, evacuation directives and displacement figures as provided by Lebanese authorities and other parties cited in the reporting.