Israeli strike kills 3 Lebanese paramedics, sparking retaliation from Hezbollah
The emergency workers had been responding to a fire caused by an Israeli attack when their fire truck was hit
Three Lebanese paramedics were killed and two others wounded, one critically, in an Israeli attack while they were extinguishing fires in the southern town of Froun, Lebanon’s health ministry said on Saturday.
“Israeli forces targeted a team from the Lebanese Civil Defence as they responded to fires sparked by recent Israeli air strikes,” a ministry statement said, specifying that the strike hit a fire truck.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the Israeli attack as a violation of international law and announced an emergency meeting on Monday with Western ambassadors and international organisations to address the ongoing hostilities.
“To date, because of Israel’s aggression, 25 paramedics from various ambulance teams have been killed, along with two health workers, and 94 paramedics and health workers have been injured,” the health ministry statement added.
Hezbollah ally the Amal movement said two of its members were among the dead in Saturday’s strike. It said they were killed “while carrying out their humanitarian and national duty defending Lebanon and the south”.
The health ministry also condemned the attack as a “blatant strike” on an official Lebanese state apparatus, marking the second such attack on an emergency team in less than 12 hours.
