12 paramedics, civil defense volunteers killed in Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon

By Wassim Seifeddine

BEIRUT (AA) - Israeli airstrikes on several towns Saturday in the Tyre district in southern Lebanon killed 12 paramedics and civil defense volunteers, and injured three others.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said warplanes targeted the town of Deir Qanoun Ras Al-Ain in the Tyre district, killing six members of the Islamic Scouts -- volunteers in emergency medical and civil defense operations -- and a paramedic from the Islamic Health Association -- a charity organization.

Strikes on Deir Qanoun Ras Al-Ain also killed a civilian and wounded 12 others.

The ministry also reported that an airstrike on the town of Ain Baal in Tyre injured three members of the Islamic Scouts.

Five members of the Islamic Scouts were killed in an airstrike on the town of Hanouiyeh in Tyre, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

The ministry condemned the continued Israeli targeting of paramedics as “an ongoing war crime that has not been deterred by the international community, which is responsible for upholding international humanitarian laws to prevent violence and genocide.”

The Health Ministry also reported that an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Midan neighborhood in Nabatieh injured 12 people.

A massive Israeli air campaign against Lebanon has been ongoing since late September against what it claims are Hezbollah targets in an escalation in year-long cross-border warfare since the start of the Gaza war.

More than 3,100 people have been killed and over 13,900 injured in Israeli attacks since October 2023, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Israel launched an incursion into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala