First responders and local residents combed through the wreckage of an overnight Israeli airstrike in Ain Yaacoub, Akkar region, on November 12, 2024. — AFP

A day after Israeli warplanes obliterated their building, Lebanese residents joined rescue workers in sifting through the debris for survivors, still grappling with the shock of the rare attack in the country's far north. The bombing claimed the lives of at least eight people in Ain Yaacoub, one of the northernmost villages targeted by Israel, far removed from Lebanon's conflict-ridden southern border.

"They struck a building where more than 30 people resided without any prior warning," said Mustafa Hamza, who lives close to the site of the strike. "It's an unimaginable tragedy."

Following nearly a year of sustained cross-border fire, Israel escalated its assaults on Hezbollah in September, primarily focusing on the Iran-backed militant group in its strongholds of south Beirut and eastern and southern Lebanon. In the aftermath of Monday's strike on Ain Yaacoub, residents and rescuers worked together, using their bare hands to dig through the dust and chunks of concrete, hoping to uncover survivors.

The health ministry anticipated that the death toll would rise. On the ground, individuals were seen retrieving body parts from the rubble in the morning, following an arduous night of search operations. In near-darkness, rescuers had to rely on mobile phone lights and car headlamps to locate survivors in a remote area where national grid power is scarce.

For years, Syrians escaping their war-torn homeland and more recently displaced Lebanese fleeing Israeli strikes had sought sanctuary in the remote Akkar region near the Syrian border, once considered a safe haven. "The situation is dire. People are in shock," Hamza told AFP. "People from across the region have come here to assist in recovering the victims."

The village, predominantly inhabited by Sunni Muslims and Christians, is situated far from Hezbollah's strongholds, a Shia Muslim movement. A security source revealed that Monday's air strike targeted a Hezbollah member who had relocated with his family to the building in Ain Yaacoub from south Lebanon.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military confirmed that the strike was aimed at "a Hezbollah terrorist" and specified that the missile used was designed to minimize civilian casualties. Local official Rony Al Hage informed AFP that it was the northernmost Israeli attack since the full-scale Israel-Hezbollah war erupted in September.

Following Israel's intensified air raids, ground troops were also deployed into south Lebanon. "The people in my house were my uncle, his wife, and my sisters... A Syrian woman and her children who had been living here for 10 years were also killed," said Hashem Hashem, the son of the building's owner. His relatives had fled Israel's offensive on south Lebanon seeking refuge in the Akkar region more than a month prior, he added.

The Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon has displaced at least 1.3 million people, with nearly 900,000 of them within the country, according to the United Nations migration agency. Israeli strikes outside Hezbollah strongholds have frequently targeted buildings housing displaced civilians, with Lebanese security officials often informing AFP that the targets were Hezbollah operatives.

On Sunday, Lebanon reported that an Israeli strike killed 23 people, including seven children, in the village of Almat—a rare attack north of the capital. Earlier this month, authorities stated that an Israeli strike on a residential building killed at least 20 people in Barja, a town south of Beirut that lies outside Hezbollah's sphere of influence.

The war erupted after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges of fire, initiated by Hezbollah in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following their October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that ignited the Gaza war. More than 3,240 people have perished in Lebanon since the clashes began last year, according to the health ministry, with the majority of the deaths occurring since late September.

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