Church bells and gunfire rang out across Lebanon’s north on Tuesday as hundreds gathered for funeral prayers for Pierre Mouawad, a Lebanese Christian party official known for his anti-Hezbollah stance, and for his wife, both killed in an Israeli airstrike over the weekend, according to the Associated Press. The services unfolded in Yahshoush, north of Beirut, as the community processed a death that has become a flashpoint in a country already divided by the wider Israel-Hezbollah war.
The Associated Press said the strike that killed Mouawad, his wife and a woman visiting them hit an apartment above them in Ain Saadeh, east of Beirut, on Sunday. The Israeli military said its intention was to target a Hezbollah militant, but the circumstances of the strike remain unclear.
Mouawad was with the local branch of the Lebanese Forces, a Christian party widely considered Hezbollah’s fiercest political opponent. The report said the party has for years called for Hezbollah’s disarmament, and in recent weeks has blamed Hezbollah for dragging Lebanon into another war by firing rockets at Israel in solidarity with Iran.
At Tuesday’s funeral, the AP reported that coffins draped in the white Lebanese Forces party flag were carried to St. Simon Church off the side of a mountain in Yahshoush. Sounds of church bells, gunshots and party music from loudspeakers mixed as officials, town residents and party members attended the condolences.
Among those speaking was Lebanese Forces legislator Pierre Bou Assi, who said, “They died because Hezbollah dragged us into a war,” and called the conflict “an Iranian decision with Hezbollah’s implementation.” He added, “Nobody among all the Lebanese asked them to start this war.”
While the Lebanese military said it was investigating the incident, and the government has banned Hezbollah’s military activity and the presence of Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard members in Lebanon since last month, the Associated Press said the Ain Saadeh strike further exacerbated tensions. The report described how many Lebanese who believed they would be spared without ties to Hezbollah have said they were horrified as Israeli attacks struck Hezbollah-linked targets and Iranian Guard-linked rentals in their neighborhoods.
The AP said the landlord of the apartment above the Mouawads, the town mayor and the Lebanese military probing the attack all said no one has been living there. But Mouawad’s relatives and the Lebanese Forces said the intended target was in that apartment, arguing that someone nearby was placed at risk.
Raymond Mouawad, Pierre’s brother, told the Associated Press: “If that person ‘had died, it would have been better for us.’ Instead, my brother died while he escaped.”