Mourners gathered Tuesday in Lebanon for the funeral of a married couple who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, an attack that outraged much of the country because the pair had no apparent connection to Hezbollah, the militant group at war with Israel.
Pierre Mouawad and Flavia Murad died on Sunday in their home in the mountain town of Ain Saadeh, east of the capital, Beirut, and far from other areas that have been targeted in the war so far. Mr. Mouawad was a local official with the Lebanese Forces, a Christian political party that has long fiercely opposed Hezbollah.
On Monday, the Israeli military said it had hit a “terror target” in the attack that killed the couple, but was reviewing “reports that several uninvolved individuals were harmed as a result of the strike.” A spokesman for the Israeli military told The New York Times that Mr. Mouawad was “definitely not a target,” adding that Israel was trying to assess the circumstances surrounding his killing.
“What was his crime?” asked Elias Bidran, one of the mourners, who attended the funeral with his wife and son. “He and his family were sitting in their home when a strike came and killed them,” he added.
“This is a war on all of Lebanon,” Mr. Bidran said.
Israel launched a wave of airstrikes on Beirut on Sunday as Lebanon’s large Christian community was marking Easter. The roar of warplanes overhead and the din of drones and strikes on the capital mingled with hymns and church bells.
At least 39 people were killed in Sunday’s attacks across the country, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. The ministry said more than 1,500 people have been killed, including civilians with a range of backgrounds, and more than 4,800 others injured so far in the war.
Samir Geagea, the head of the Lebanese Forces, said in a statement on Monday that when Ms. Murad and Mr. Mouawad were killed, “the Israelis were targeting a member of the Quds Force,” the arm of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The Quds Force operates outside Iran, handling its relations with allied militias and proxies around the Middle East, including Hezbollah.
His statement did not make clear where the targeted person was in relation to the couple that was killed.
The strike hit Mr. Mouawad’s building, Mr. Geagea said, causing its roof to collapse. A third person, a woman visiting the couple, was also killed, he said.
The war generally and the killing of the couple on Sunday have once again exposed Lebanon’s deep sectarian divides.
Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim political movement and militia, and its joining of the regional war in support of Iran has heightened resentment among Christian, Druse and Sunni Muslim communities in Lebanon, as well as secular groups.
Many fear this frustration with dragging Lebanon into another war with Israel could lead not only to widespread sectarian strife but also to mounting economic strain and a deepening political crisis, with civilians bearing the consequences no matter who is involved.
On Tuesday afternoon, as fog settled over the nearby mountains, fireworks, gunshots and church bells echoed through the air.
Two white coffins with golden handles, draped in the Lebanese Forces party flag and bearing the bodies of Mr. Mouawad and Ms. Murad, were carried into St. Simon Church in the town of Yahchouch for the funeral service.
“He was a victim of Hezbollah’s” actions, said Selim Saadeh, a member of the Lebanese Forces party who attended the service. “The war will only end after Hezbollah ends.”
Abdi Latif Dahir is a Middle East correspondent for The Times, covering Lebanon and Syria. He is based in Beirut.
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