Israeli attack on Lebanon’s Almat kills 23, including seven children

The village is located in a mostly Christian region and is outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds in Lebanon.

An Israeli air attack on the Lebanese village of Almat on Sunday has killed at least 23 people, including seven children, and wounded several others, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.

The Shia Muslim majority village of Almat in the Jbeil district is about 30km (19 miles) north of the capital Beirut and is located in a mostly Christian area.

The village is outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds of south Beirut and south and east Lebanon, which Israel has heavily bombed since late September in its war against the Iran-backed group.

“The Israeli enemy strike on Almat in the Jbeil district killed 23 people, including seven children, in an updated but not final toll,” the health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

It also said body parts had been recovered from the site and were being identified.

Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan noted that this is only the second time that the area has been attacked since Israel’s fighting with Hezbollah intensified.

He added that an Israeli attack on Sidon in southern Lebanon killed three paramedics later on Sunday.

“It’s very clear now that the brunt of the devastation that has taken place, either in the south or across other parts of Lebanon, is being borne by civilians,” Khan said.

The health ministry also said that three people were killed and two others wounded in an Israeli attack late on Saturday night on Mashghara, in the western part of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Meanwhile, one person was killed and four others injured in an attack on Sahmar, also in western Bekaa, that occurred the same night.

Lebanese official media also reported that an Israeli attack hit a house in the eastern city of Baalbek, which was not preceded by a forced displacement order from Israeli forces.

“Enemy aircraft launched a strike on a house in the al-Laqees neighbourhood” of the city, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

Since September 27, the Israeli military has issued several evacuation warnings, ordering residents to flee their homes. While Israel’s military claims evacuation orders are aimed at protecting Lebanon’s civilian population, in reality, evacuation orders are not always made.

The Israeli military said that in its latest attacks, it had struck Hezbollah infrastructure in the areas of Tyre and Baalbek, including fighters, “operational apartments,” and weapons stores.

In retaliation, Hezbollah said it launched rocket attacks on Israeli forces in the town of Shebaa in southern Lebanon and the settlement of HaGoshrim in northern Israel. The attacks took place in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Israel has been fighting with Hezbollah since October 2023, but it has escalated dramatically since late September of this year. Israel has intensified and expanded its bombing campaign, and Hezbollah has ramped up daily rocket and drone attacks against Israel.

At least 3,136 people have been killed and 13,979 wounded in Israeli attacks in Lebanon since the war on Gaza began.

Hezbollah has said it is acting in support of Hamas and in solidarity with the people of Gaza, where Israel’s war continues to rage. A predawn attack by Israeli forces on northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp on Sunday, killed 33 people, including 13 children.

Efforts to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have failed so far, with both the warring parties trading blame.

Qatar, a country which played a key role in holding truce talks, said on Saturday that Doha would be suspending its mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel until the parties show “their willingness and seriousness” to end the war in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Arab and Muslim leaders have begun arriving in Saudi Arabia for a summit scheduled for Monday that will focus on Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon, according to Saudi state media.

According to the Saudi Press Agency, attendees are expected to “discuss the continued Israeli aggression on the Palestinian territories and the Lebanese Republic, and the current developments in the region”.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies