An Israeli airstrike hit an apartment building in northern Lebanon on Monday, killing at least 18 people, according to the Lebanese Red Cross.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military and it was not clear what the target was. The strike hit a small apartment building in the Christian-majority village of Aito, far from the Hezbollah militant group's main areas of influence in the south and east of the country.
Videos from Lebanese media showed a large plume of smoke rising from the hilly village, with several destroyed cars next to a severely damaged building, as people tried to remove bodies from beneath rubble and trees.
The strike came a day after a Hezbollah drone attack on an army base in northern Israel killed four soldiers - all of them 19 years old - and severely wounded seven others in the deadliest strike by the militant group since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon nearly two weeks ago.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant briefed his US counterpart Lloyd Austin on Monday on the deadly Hezbollah drone attack and vowed "a forceful response" by Israel.
