Leonard Unes of the Itoo Society in Peoria says members’ families in Aitou, Lebanon are safe after an Israeli airstrike killed 21 in the northern village.
The strike on Monday is one of the latest in the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah. Most of the airstrikes in Lebanon to date had been contained to southern and eastern parts of the country where Hezbollah is most densely concentrated.
The strike in the Christian-majority village of Aitou Monday hit a building which was housing families displaced by the conflict, Mayor Joseph Trad told news agency Reuters. Unes called the attack “horrible.”
“My understanding is that the people of Aitou, Lebanon, the natives there, the residents there, are okay,” he said. “So none of our relatives were injured.”
Eight people were also injured in the attack, according to Lebanon's health ministry. The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom reported Hezbollah fired rockets at Tel Aviv on Monday in apparent retaliation for the strike on Aitou. Those missiles were intercepted by the Israeli Defense Forces.
The IDF didn't have immediate comment, but the BBC reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country will "continue to strike Hezbollah without mercy everywhere in Lebanon - including Beirut." Those remarks came at an Israeli military base where four soldiers were killed and dozens injured in a Hezbollah drone strike on Sunday.
The Itoo Society was founded by immigrants from Aitou who first settled in Peoria in the early 20th century. The city of Peoria now has one of the largest Lebanese diasporas in the United States, and Aitou is one of Peoria's sister cities.
Unes said they continue to send aid back to the village every month.
“The economy in Lebanon has been shot to hell for a long time,” he said. “So these people have been suffering for a while now with huge inflation, with finding food, finding medicines, finding heat and oil to heat and cool their homes, electricity to light their lights in their homes. This has been going on for years, so now this compounds everything. And yeah, they're hurting over there.”
Unes said people interested in helping support the residents of Aitou can donate to the Itoo Society.
