Before September 25, more than 50 people from three different families had gathered in two buildings in the middle of Maaysrah, a Shiite Muslim village in the heart of the mountain, an area that had not been attacked by Israel during the many wars between the country and Lebanon. Therefore, the area was still considered a safe zone.
On September 25, at 11 a.m. local time, Israeli warplanes bombed the area, killing 16 people (2 men and 14 women and children), according to family members, local officials and medical sources.
More than 30 people were injured, half of them children.
Local officials said the bombed buildings included the residence of a Hezbollah fighter who was killed in August, and a fighter who lost his leg in a battle that was in the area at the time of the bombing, but no active fighters were present.
Figures from the Lebanese Health Ministry show that the attack was part of a series of Israeli airstrikes that have led to a growing number of civilian casualties as the scale of Israel's campaign has expanded.
Officials with ties to Hezbollah have said the attacks are nothing more than collective punishment aimed at inciting the Shiite Muslim community against the group.
Responding to questions, the Israeli military asserted that it had operated "in strict accordance with international law (and) had taken every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians".
The force asserted that Hezbollah integrated military infrastructure in civilian areas and that Israel had tried to evacuate civilians before the attack. The statement did not directly comment on the airstrike on Maaysrah.
Hezbollah has denied allegations that it installed rocket launchers in civilian areas.
Recent airstrikes have resulted in large civilian casualties, including an airstrike on Ain Delb in the southern Sidon region on Sunday that killed 45 people, many of whom had been evacuated from elsewhere.
Figures from the Lebanese government show that Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon in less than a year of war have killed more than 1,640 people, most of them in the past two weeks, including 104 children and 194 women.
About 50 Israeli soldiers and civilians were killed in the same time frame, Israeli officials said.
Lebanon has not given clear information on civilian and military casualties.
Fire and screaming
Many of those gathered in Maaysrah had fled months ago from the border town of Houla with their families to escape the growing frontline posed by Hezbollah in the conflict that erupted on October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas launched an attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.
Ali Koteich said he was sleeping in a room in the village before waking up to a scream and then feeling an explosion.
Sharing with Reuters, he said he had taken refuge here many months ago, and about that day he said: "I woke up, ran outside and saw that nothing was intact, the wall had collapsed, there was a fire, and many people were screaming."
"There were more than 12 children, and we had to pull them out of the rubble," he said at the Maritime Hospital in the coastal city of Jbeil where his relatives were being treated.
His grandmother and niece were killed, and his parents and siblings were injured.
Maaysrah Mayor Zuhair Amro said the building had six apartments including the apartment of Ali Amro, the Hezbollah gunman killed in Houla in August.
Zuhair Amro said Friday's airstrike killed Ali Amro's widow and two young children.
Zuhair insisted that Hezbollah had no military bases in the area and said: "Their goal is to wipe this family off the register. They want to destroy families like they destroyed Gaza."
Israel has not commented on this statement.
Worst case scenario
In the pediatric ward of Jbeil Hospital, 4-year-old Qassem Hussein lies on a hospital bed with cuts and burns on his hands and face and a fractured femur.
Doctors said the baby would need surgery. The baby's father died. The baby's mother is being treated in the emergency room.
"I have no words to say. We can't take it anymore," said the baby's aunt, sitting by the bedside.
Dr Dany Kattar said several people were in critical condition, including an 11-year-old boy who "was taken to hospital with his brain exposed from his skull".
"It was the worst case I have ever seen in my entire life… I saw many of my employees in tears."
Nguyen Quang Minh (according to Reuters)
Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/israel-khong-kich-khien-nhieu-nguoi-so-tan-thiet-mang-204241001082054571.htm
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