Israel says its fight in Lebanon is against Iran-backed Hezbollah, but residents in one tiny village say they’re under attack, and they don’t know why.
One of the deadliest Israeli strikes to date came Thursday evening, when missiles slammed into buildings in central Beirut. Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said 22 civilians were killed and wounded another 139. The Reuters news agency quoted Lebanese security officials as saying the Israeli strike had targeted senior Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa, who survived.
About 20 miles to the east of Beirut, there have been no IDF evacuation orders in Khodor. But there have been airstrikes. Mourners gathered and wept for five people killed in one of them Wednesday. A much-loved schoolteacher and his grandson were among those killed. So was Ahmed Awdeh’s father — crushed to death under rubble.
Awdeh’s memories of the man he adored have been reduced to a treasured photo album.
“My dad was a farmer”, the traumatized boy (how old?) told CBS News. “He was kind and loved by all.”
For most of the past year, since Hezbollah’s Hamas allies in the Gaza Strip sparked the ongoing war there with their Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack, the people of Khodor had rarely found themselves in Israel’s firing line.
Since the escalation of Israel’s parallel war with Hezbollah about two weeks ago, however, the tiny village has been hit repeatedly by Israeli airstrikes. Israel ramped up its fight against Hezbollah, a powerful, well-armed Iranian proxy group deeply embedded in Lebanon’s politics, in response to it launching more than 10,000 rockets at Israel in support of Hamas over the last year.
