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Israeli tank fire kills Lebanese priest who vowed to stay with congregation
Israeli shelling has killed a priest from Christian village in southern Lebanon – where local residents are pledging to stay after Israel’s military escalated evacuation calls and attacks in parts of the country.
Father Pierre al-Raai died on Monday after he and several other residents were injured by two separate Israeli attacks on the outskirts of Qlayaa, a village in Marjayoun district, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).
The village of Qlayaa had remained largely untouched by Israeli fire, which has killed at least 486 people across Lebanon since March 2, the country’s health ministry said on Monday. Before his death, Al-Raai promised to stay with fellow worshippers in the face of an Israeli evacuation call for everyone living south of Lebanon’s Litani River. The village was not explicitly outlined in the memo, but it lies below the Litani – just north of the border with Israel.
“We have never fled… And we will not flee now, either,” the priest had said in a voice message to local villagers, obtained by CNN on Monday. “I want to reiterate the same invitation: for those who are afraid, the church is open, and we welcome everyone until this crisis passes,” he added.
On Tuesday, the UN’s peacekeeping mission will evacuate civilians from the village of Alma al-Shaab – about 43 kilometers (27 miles) from Qlayaa – according to the mayor, Chadi Sayah, in a sign of the encroaching threat to local Christian communities. A man was killed in an Israeli raid there on Sunday, NNA said.
Last week, Sayah told worshippers, “We’re choosing to stay on our land.” “We want to live in peace,” he said in a Facebook video published on the official Alma al-Shaab parish page https://www.facebook.com/reel/1428225552184308">on March 4.
The Israeli military said troops operating in southern Lebanon “identified several armed terrorists” in the Qlayaa area and fired toward them to “remove an immediate threat.” The military added that hits were identified and that there was a report of “additional civilians who entered the area at the time of the shooting” being injured. The incident is under review, the military said.
Israel carrying out targeted ground raids in southern Lebanon amid potential deeper push
The Israeli military is carrying out what it calls “targeted raids” into southern Lebanon amid a potential deeper ground push into the country. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday that an Israeli tank opened fire on a building near one of the raids after troops saw militants entering the structure.
On Saturday, the IDF announced the first commando raid into Lebanon. The operation in Nabi Chit, which the Lebanese health ministry said killed 41 people, was an attempt to locate the remains of long-missing Israeli navigator Ron Arad. The Lebanese military said the raid involved four helicopters accompanied by an “intense and widespread bombardment” of the area.
The IDF announced a second raid early Monday morning that was targeted at Hezbollah militants and infrastructure in southern Lebanon. “This activity is part of the effort to further strengthen forward defensive positions in order to provide an additional layer of protection for residents of northern Israel,” the IDF said.
On Monday, CNN reported that Israel was weighing a deeper push into southern Lebanon and an expansion of its military presence there. Israel has held five positions in southern Lebanon since the November 2024 ceasefire agreement. Last week, the IDF announced that it had seized several more positions, expanding its presence in response to the launch of Hezbollah projectiles on March 2.
