Concerns are growing as Israel invades new areas of Lebanon

Rescuers were just leaving when we arrived at the scene of an Israeli airstrike on a building in Aramoun, southwest of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

It had to be removed. They found eight dead bodies – including three children and three women – and took many of the injured to hospitals; others were in critical condition.

Then several men on the balcony of the building facing them started shouting: “Hand, hand. We see the hand.”

They were pointing to the balcony on the second floor, which had collapsed to the ground.

The young man climbed onto the pile of debris. He got there and cleared away the debris, then lifted up an unknown object.

Later, I asked him if he found the hand. He replied: “No. It was not a hand. It was part of a skull.”

A multi-storey building that has been hit is in a residential area.

We were told that most of the people there were not internally displaced people, mainly from the south of the country or the areas south of Beirut.

They are areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence and are often targeted by Israel during its war with the Iranian-backed political and military group.

Aramoun is a mixed religious area and until Wednesday it was considered safe because it had never been attacked.

The dawn strike came without warning.

“It was four o’clock in the morning. We were asleep. We woke up to a loud thunder. We didn’t see anything from the beginning because of the smoke that was everywhere,” said a mother of two who lives in the opposite building.

He had taken refuge in his uncle’s house in Aramoun after Israel began shelling areas south of Beirut.

“Israel is striking everywhere. There is no safe place anymore,” he added.

Another woman in her 80s was being rushed to the car.

He had moved to Aramoun a month ago, also from areas south of Beirut.

After the strike, he went with everyone else to the building and spent two or three hours in their car on the street.

When we saw him, he was gathering some of his things. He told us that he was very scared and was moving again.

This time he said he was going to his son’s place. You’ve been fired again.

When asked about any hopes for an end to the hostilities soon, he replied: “The more they talk about a ceasefire, the more Israel escalates its attacks.”

The Israeli army has not said who or what it is targeting in Aramoun.

But the strike was similar to several in other parts of the country: it was launched without warning in residential buildings or houses occupied by refugees. The Israeli military said many of those strikes targeted Hezbollah infrastructure.

These attacks are creating social tensions in the host communities, with residents expressing concern that Israel may be targeting displaced people who live among them or others who have visited, often to bring financial aid.

“We all love resistance [Hezbollah]but if a person has a son and is not sure if he is in Hezbollah, or if someone comes to give help to people who are displaced from their places and are attacked, we pay,” said another man who owns a house in this area. who was beaten and lives there with his wife and child.

He added: “The evicted came as guests and we welcome them.” But if there’s a stranger here, whoever he is – it could be my child and I don’t know he’s in Hezbollah – and they target him, and children and women are killed, isn’t that sad?”

Comments of this nature have become more common following a recent series of Israeli strikes in various parts of the country outside of known hostile areas.

But at the same time there are growing calls in Lebanon for national unity and warnings that such strikes from Israel may be deliberate to create such social unrest.