Israeli Airstrike Kills Lebanese Forces Official and at Least Three Others in Ain Saadeh Residential Building

Israeli Airstrike Kills Lebanese Forces Official and at Least Three Others in Ain Saadeh Residential Building

By Maryam Yakubu Usman  | April 6, 2026

On Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026, an Israeli airstrike struck a residential apartment building in the hills of Ain Saadeh (Tallet Ain Saadeh), a suburban town in Lebanon’s Matn District east-northeast of Beirut, killing at least four civilians and triggering urgent overnight rescue operations amid reports of people still trapped under rubble.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health initially confirmed three deaths, including two women, and three injuries all women from the strike, which hit the third floor of the multi-story building with what appeared to be an air-delivered bomb. Local media and later accounts raised the toll to four killed as rescue teams from the Lebanese Civil Defense continued searching the debris late into the night.

Among the victims was Pierre Mouawad, a prominent local official with the Christian Lebanese Forces party and head of its Yahchouch Center. Mouawad and his wife, who lived on the second floor of the targeted building, were both reported killed in the attack. Initial reports indicated his wife remained missing under the rubble while search efforts were ongoing. Lebanese Forces MP Razi El Hajj described the incident as a “tragedy,” noting that the party was “paying a heavy price for a war into which we have been dragged by the lawless organization Hezbollah.”

Reports suggest the apparent main target of the strike whose identity has not been publicly confirmed  managed to escape shortly before the bombing. The attack occurred in a predominantly Christian mountainous area in the Mount Lebanon Governorate, far from the traditional southern front lines.

This strike was part of a broader wave of Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon on Easter Sunday that killed at least 11 to 15 people in total, according to various media and health ministry tallies. Other strikes hit southern villages such as Kfar Hatta (where a family of six, including children, was reportedly among the dead), as well as areas in Beirut’s southern suburbs and additional sites in the south.

The incident has heightened concerns over civilian casualties in Lebanon’s Christian communities and raised questions about the precision and targeting of strikes during a major religious holiday. No immediate comment was issued by the Israeli military specifically addressing the Ain Saadeh strike. The attack comes amid the wider regional escalation involving the ongoing US-Israel campaign against Iran and persistent cross-border tensions with Hezbollah.

As of April 6, Lebanon’s overall death toll from Israeli operations since early March 2026 has surpassed 1,400, with thousands more injured and nearly one million people displaced, according to Lebanese authorities. The Easter Sunday violence has drawn renewed international attention to the humanitarian impact and risks of further escalation in the conflict.

Emergency responders remained at the scene into Monday, with images circulating of significant structural damage to the residential building and debris in the surrounding area.