Lebanon buries Christian official and his wife, killed in an Israeli strike

Hundreds gathered Tuesday for a solemn funeral service in Yahshoush, Lebanon, where church bells and celebratory gunfire filled the air as mourners paid their respects to Pierre Mouawad and his wife. The couple, along with a female visitor, were killed Sunday when an Israeli airstrike hit an apartment above their residence in Ain Saadeh, east of Beirut.

Mouawad, a local official with the Lebanese Forces, a Christian political party known for its strong opposition to Hezbollah, has become a symbol of Lebanon’s deepening political divisions during the current conflict. His death has intensified the already fraught tensions in a country increasingly polarized over the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The Israeli military claimed the airstrike targeted a Hezbollah militant, though specific details surrounding the attack remain unclear. The Lebanese military has launched an investigation into the incident, while local officials and family members have offered conflicting accounts about occupancy of the apartment directly struck in the attack.

“They died because Hezbollah dragged us into a war,” Lebanese Forces legislator Pierre Bou Assi told mourners, describing the conflict as “an Iranian decision with Hezbollah’s implementation.” He added emphatically, “Nobody among all the Lebanese asked them to start this war.”

The Lebanese Forces party, which holds the largest bloc in Lebanon’s parliament and has four cabinet ministers, has long advocated for Hezbollah’s disarmament. In recent weeks, the party has intensified its criticism, blaming Hezbollah for pulling Lebanon into another destructive conflict by firing rockets into Israel in solidarity with Iran.

At the funeral in Yahshoush, north of Beirut, the coffins of Mouawad and his wife were draped in the white Lebanese Forces party flag as they were carried into St. Simon Church. The ceremony drew a large crowd of party officials, local residents, and supporters, highlighting the political significance of the tragedy.

The war’s escalation has had devastating consequences for Lebanon. According to the country’s Health Ministry, Israeli strikes have killed 1,530 people since the conflict resumed last month. More than one million Lebanese have been displaced, primarily from southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs—areas where Hezbollah maintains significant influence and support.

This massive displacement has created new tensions across Lebanon’s complex sectarian landscape. Christian, Sunni, and Druze communities receiving displaced Shiites—Hezbollah’s primary support base—have expressed concern that militants may be hiding among civilian evacuees. These sectarian anxieties have further complicated Lebanon’s already fragile social fabric.

The circumstances surrounding Mouawad’s death have particularly rattled Lebanese citizens who believed they would remain safe during the conflict due to their lack of connection to Hezbollah. Many now fear that Israeli operations targeting Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guard members in residential areas put all Lebanese at risk, regardless of political affiliation.

Local officials, including the town mayor and the landlord of the targeted apartment, claim no one was living in the unit above the Mouawads at the time of the strike. However, the victim’s relatives and the Lebanese Forces party insist someone—presumably Israel’s intended target—had been occupying the space, thereby endangering nearby residents.

“If that person had died, it would have been better for us,” lamented Raymond Mouawad, Pierre’s brother. “Instead, my brother died while he escaped.”

The incident occurs against the backdrop of a Lebanese government that has formally banned Hezbollah’s military activities and the presence of Iranian Revolutionary Guard members in the country. However, enforcement of such policies remains challenging amid the ongoing conflict and Lebanon’s fractured political landscape.

As Israeli forces continue operations in Lebanon and the death toll rises, this incident underscores how the conflict is increasingly affecting all communities across Lebanon, deepening existing political divides and creating new fault lines in a nation already struggling with multiple crises.