Second Israeli strike in two days hits Damascus
Syrian state-run media say Israel has attacked the upscale Mazzeh district of Damascus, the second such strike in as many days to hit the neighbourhood, which is home to embassies, security headquarters and United Nations offices.
“Israeli aggression targets Mazzeh area in Damascus,” the official SANA news agency said after reporting a deadly Israeli air raid on the district a day earlier.
As attacks intensify against the backdrop of the war in Lebanon, Israeli strikes in and around Damascus on Thursday killed 23 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.
Thursday’s attack on Mazzeh killed 13 people, including civilians and Iran-backed fighters, while an attack on the outskirts of Damascus killed 10 Palestinian fighters, the monitor said.
‘They were all my brothers’: Lebanese rescuer describes Israeli strike
A Lebanese medic who survived a deadly Israeli attack on a civil defence agency centre recounted the scene. Fifteen civil defence agency emergency rescuers were killed in the Israeli bombing on the outskirts of the city of Baalbek on Thursday.
“I rushed to the centre after hearing about the strike. I was in shock and started to scream,” Saiid Othman told Al Jazeera.
“What is happening? We are people who help others, our job is humanitarian. I started to call out to Haidar, he was my friend for 45 years. I called out for the others, no one answered. They were all my brothers.”
Civil defence rescuers search for survivors at the site of an Israeli air strike on the Lebanese village of Haret Sidon
EU condemns Israeli killing of 15 paramedics in Lebanon
The European Union’s foreign policy chief has condemned the Israeli killing of 15 Lebanese paramedics in Baalbek.
“Attacks on healthcare workers and facilities are a grave violation of international humanitarian law. The protection of medical personnel in conflict zones is non-negotiable,” Josep Borrell said.
The strike may have been a “reckless” accident or deliberate but it still violates fundamental human rights either way, he added.
The Israeli military targeted the site in Baalbek as about 20 civil defence workers gathered there. As we reported earlier, it also killed another five paramedics in the village of Arabsalim in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh.
The EU strongly condemns the killing of 12 paramedics in an Israeli strike near Baalbek.
Attacks on healthcare workers and facilities are a grave violation of international humanitarian law. The protection of medical personnel in conflict zones is non-negotiable.
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— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) November 15, 2024
Search continues after Israel bombs Lebanese rescue workers
Rescue teams continue to search through rubble for missing people near the city of Baalbek, in eastern Lebanon, where an Israeli air strike hit a civil defence centre. The General Directorate of Civil Defence expressed “deep regret over this direct attack on its members”. Staffers “will continue to respond to relief calls and continue with its humanitarian mission, no matter how great the challenges and sacrifices are”, it said.
All those killed in the strike on the town of Douris near Baalbek were employees and volunteers of the emergency services agency. Remains were also recovered and will require DNA testing, the agency said in a statement.
New Israeli air strike hits Beirut’s southern suburb
Lebanon’s National News Agency is reporting a violent strike in Beirut’s southern suburb of Ghobeiry. The air raid came shortly after the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning.
Several strikes earlier hit the Burj al-Barajneh neighbourhood and Ghobeiry area in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital.
