At least 18 killed in Israeli airstrike in northern Lebanon

By Anadolu staff

BEIRUT (AA) - At least 18 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Lebanon on Monday, the Lebanese Red Cross said.

Four other people were injured in the attack that targeted a residential apartment in the village of Aitou in the predominantly Christian city of Zgharta, the humanitarian organization said in a statement.

The Lebanese Health Ministry had earlier put the death toll from the Israeli strike at nine people.

The Red Cross said efforts were underway to search for survivors under the rubble.

It was the first attack to have been launched by Israeli warplanes in northern Lebanon since the outbreak of cross-border clashes with Hezbollah last year.

Israel has launched a huge air campaign across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 1,488 people, injuring over 4,297 others, and displacing more than 1.34 million people.

The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed more than 42,200 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

Israel expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 by launching a ground incursion into southern Lebanon.