Deir Qanoun En-Nahr, Lebanon. Mourners gathered on Thursday to bury 14 people killed in an Israeli airstrike earlier this week, the deadliest single raid on Lebanon since the announcement of a tenuous ceasefire last month. Lebanon’s health ministry said the victims included four children and three women.
Funerals held for victims
Dozens of people gathered in the southern town on Thursday to bury the victims, carrying pictures of three children and their parents who were killed in the raid.
Ali Reda Dibo said the family included his 33-year-old brother, who was killed at home along with his wife and their children — a 1-year-old son and two daughters aged 6 and 8. “They were children, angels, what more can we say? There is nothing left to say after what you are seeing today, nothing at all,” Dibo said.
Two of the coffins were draped in the yellow flag of Hezbollah, and a third bore the green flag of Hezbollah’s ally, the Amal movement.
Israeli military statement
Asked about the strike, the Israeli military told Reuters that it had “struck a Hezbollah terrorist in a structure used for military purposes in the area of Deir Qanoun in southern Lebanon”. It said the area had been evacuated of civilians and that precise munitions and aerial surveillance had been used to mitigate harm.
Evacuation orders and displacement
Israel has issued orders for people across southern Lebanese towns to leave their homes and head north, including during the ceasefire. More than one million people have been displaced in Lebanon by the evacuation orders and by Israel’s bombing campaign.
How do you assess the impact of evacuation orders and continued strikes on civilians in southern Lebanon?
