Israeli airstrikes force Lebanese Christians to seek shelter in monastery

Israeli airstrikes and its ground invasion have forced dozens of Lebanese Christians to take shelter in a monastery close to the border with Israel.

ZOUK MOSBEH, Lebanon — Israeli airstrikes and its burgeoning ground invasion have forced dozens of Lebanese Christians to take shelter in a monastery close to the border with Israel.

Milad Louis, head of the municipality of Ain Ebel, a largely Christian town, said Israeli airstrikes forced the community to evacuate in just 45 minutes.

“The situation is devastating,” he told NBC News in a telephone interview Tuesday from Our Lady of Annunciation monastery and school, a Maronite Christian institution less than 2 miles from Israel. “Why us? There is no Hezbollah in Ain Ebel and Israel knows that.”

Israel has said it is not at war with Lebanon in general and insisted that it is targeting fighters and weapons from Hezbollah, a Shia resistance militia that was formed in the 1980s in response to Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon and that has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. since 1997.

Lebanese military personnel direct civilians Tuesday in the town of Rmeish along the border with Israel.Supplied to NBC NewsAt least 800 people fled to the border town of Rmeish, according to the head of Our Lady of Annunciation, whose identity is being withheld over safety fears. Seventy villagers were given shelter in the nearby monastery and school, with residents also opening up their homes to 30 fleeing the violence nearby, according to monastery officials.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-airstrikes-lebanon-monastery-shelter-rcna173583

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