Middle East crisis: At least 11 killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on Easter

Latest strikes on Lebanon follow Israeli military evacuation order for residents to flee conflict zones

Middle East Crisis: At least 11 killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on Easter
Middle East Crisis: At least 11 killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on Easter

11 people, including a child, have been killed in a recent Israeli airstrike on Kfarhata, a village in south Lebanon, on Sunday.

Lebanon's health ministry said in a statement another Israeli attack on the Jnah neighborhood in Beirut killed four people and injured nearly 40 others.

The strike on Kfarhata followed an overnight evacuation order by the Israeli military instructing residents to leave the village.

As Lebanese Christians marked Easter Sunday, the country experienced one of its most violent days since fighting with Israel erupted early last month.

Throughout the day, Beirut echoed with the sounds of strikes and the screech of low-flying planes overhead.

Moreover, the state media reported that the southern suburbs of the capital were hit by eight airstrikes.

It happened as the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning on Saturday targeting Lebanon's Masnaa border crossing with Syria, the main entry point connecting the two countries, alleging it was being used by the Lebanese Hezbollah armed group for military purposes.

Earlier on Sunday, the Lebanese army said a soldier had been killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon.

Notably, Lebanon was drawn into the ‌Middle East conflict when Iranian-backed Hezbollah began to launch rockets at Israel on March 2 in support of Tehran.

Israel has launched strikes on Lebanon and invaded the south in what has become the most violent spillover of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

By late March, more than 400 Hezbollah fighters had been killed.

As reported by Reuters, at least 10 Israeli troops have been killed in southern Lebanon in the same period, the Israeli military has said.

The Lebanese health ministry said 1,461 people had been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon as of Sunday, raising the death toll since the start of the war by 39 in around 24 hours. More than one million people have been displaced.

Israel said it intends to control a "security zone" as deep as 30 km (20 miles) into Lebanese territory. It has issued evacuation orders covering around 15% of Lebanese territory.

But tens of thousands of Lebanese have remained in their homes in the south, including around 9,000 Lebanese Christians living in a cluster of border towns, as they were remained determined to stay.