18 killed in Israeli airstrike on residential building in Lebanon

Eighteen people were killed, and four others wounded on Monday in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential apartment in Aitou, a village in Lebanon's North Governorate, the Lebanese Red Cross said in a post on X, reported Xinhua.

Lebanese TV channel LBCI reported that the building targeted in the airstrike was rented by displaced people from southern Lebanon and housed more than 20 residents across four apartments.

Images shared on social media showed extensive destruction in the building's yard, along with wrecked cars and bodies of victims.

Relief and debris removal efforts are still underway at the site.

According to the Lebanese National News Agency, this was the first airstrike in the area since October of last year, when Hezbollah and the Israeli army began exchanging fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border. Hezbollah stated that its attacks on Israeli targets were intended to demonstrate support for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

In a dangerous escalation with Hezbollah, Israel launched an intensive attack on Lebanon on Sept. 23.