BEIRUT — Palang Merah Lubnan berkata 18 orang maut dalam serangan di utara Lubnan pada Isnin, dengan kementerian kesihatan dan media rasmi melaporkan serbuan Israel di kawasan majoriti Kristian jauh dari kubu kuat Hizbullah.
“Lapan belas maut dan empat cedera dalam serangan ke atas Aito,” kata Palang Merah, merujuk kepada sebuah kampung di daerah Zgharta yang majoritinya Kristian.
Kementerian kesihatan sebelum ini berkata serangan Israel di sana membunuh sembilan orang, dengan Agensi Berita Nasional (NNA) rasmi juga mengatakan Israel menyasarkan sebuah “pangsapuri kediaman” di kampung itu.
Setakat ini, serangan Israel kebanyakannya tertumpu di kawasan didominasi Syiah, di mana Hizbullah membina pangkalan kuasanya di sebuah negara yang dimusnahkan oleh fahaman mazhab.
Seorang jurugambar AFP di lokasi serangan berkata ia telah meratakan sebuah bangunan kediaman di pintu masuk ke kampung itu.
Bahagian mayat bertaburan di dalam runtuhan, dengan sukarelawan Palang Merah mencari mangsa yang terselamat di dalam serpihan manakala ambulans memindahkan orang yang cedera.
Tentera Lubnan mengenakan kawalan keselamatan di kawasan itu, di mana serangan itu turut mencetuskan kebakaran, katanya.
Pada Sabtu, kementerian kesihatan melaporkan dua maut dan empat cedera dalam serangan Israel di Deir Billa, kira-kira 15 kilometer (sembilan batu) dari bandar Batroun di pantai utara Lubnan.
Ujian DNA sedang dijalankan untuk menentukan identiti mayat, tambah kenyataan itu.
Selepas hampir setahun tembakan rentas sempadan berhubung perang Gaza, Israel pada 23 September melancarkan kempen udara sengit terutama menyasarkan kubu kuat Hezbollah di selatan dan timur Lubnan, serta pinggir bandar selatan Beirut.
Peningkatan itu telah mengorbankan lebih 1,300 orang, menurut pengiraan angka rasmi AFP.
AN-AFP
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Lebanese Red Cross says 18 killed in strike in north
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Red Cross said 18 people died in a strike on north Lebanon on Monday, with the health ministry and official media reporting an Israeli raid on the Christian-majority area far from Hezbollah strongholds.
“Eighteen dead and four wounded in the strike on Aito,” the Red Cross said, referring to a village in the Christian-majority Zgharta district.
The health ministry earlier said an Israeli strike there killed nine people, with the official National News Agency also saying Israel targeted a “residential apartment” in the village.
So far, Israeli strikes have mainly been concentrated in predominantly Shia areas, where Hezbollah built its power base in a state wracked by sectarianism.
An AFP photographer at the site of the strike said it had levelled a residential building at the entrance to the village.
Body parts were scattered in the rubble, with Red Cross volunteers searching for survivors in the wreckage while ambulances evacuated wounded people.
The Lebanese army imposed a security cordon in the area, where the strike had also sparked a fire, he said.
On Saturday, the health ministry reported two dead and four wounded in an Israeli strike on Deir Billa, some 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the town of Batroun on Lebanon’s north coast.
DNA tests were being carried out to determine the identity of the remains, the statement added.
After almost a year of cross-border fire over the Gaza war, Israel on September 23 launched an intense air campaign mainly targeting Hezbollah’s south and east Lebanon strongholds, as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The escalation has killed more than 1,300 people, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
AN-AFP
