Israeli airstrikes force Lebanese Christians to seek shelter in monastery

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.

At 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.

Louis was one of hundreds of people forced to flee their homes in Ain Ebel on Tuesday morning after getting warnings from the Israeli military to evacuate. On Wednesday, only 10 remained in the town.

Ain Ebel residents have joined a growing number of people across the country — around 1 million — who have been displaced during a mounting Israeli offensive that has so far killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, according to local officials.

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But on Wednesday morning, the head of the monastery said fears were also growing for the safety of those in Rmeish, with blasts ringing out nearby.

“Today the situation is not good at all. Are you hearing the bombs?” they said in a telephone call.

After just a day’s reprieve, the sheltering families faced yet another displacement, with the monastery head saying officials were now working to evacuate the dozens of families still taking refuge there. Fleeing families would head north toward Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.

“We are preparing a convoy to escort some of the displaced of Ain Ebel who arrived yesterday,” they said, adding that they were “waiting for the appropriate moment … since the bombing is very close.” After appealing to the papal nuncio and the patriarchate for help organizing an evacuation, a convoy left carrying around 30 residents — mostly families with children — escorted by the Lebanese military.

The four priests remained in the monastery, saying they were intent on staying put. Around 70 people also stayed in the monastery, at a school or with local residents, according to those who remained and spoke to NBC News.

Jihan Kaisi, the executive director of the Union of Relief and Development Associations, an organization helping displaced people across the country, told NBC News that organizations working on the ground had received warnings from Lebanese officials that it was not safe to travel in the midst of Israeli strikes, leaving those displaced from their homes with few options.