Lebanese Australians reminded of past wars as Israel attacks Lebanon again
Israel’s devastating bombing of Lebanon has reverberated around the world, reaching as far as the suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne.
In Sydney’s Bankstown neighbourhood and Coburg in Melbourne, where Australia’s vibrant Lebanese community is visible in the local shops, restaurants and places of worship, Israel’s latest war on Lebanon has ignited a new wave of trauma.
“I think 99 percent of the Lebanese in Australia still have family in Lebanon,” Michael Kheirallah, founder and chairman of the Victorian Lebanese Community Council, told Al Jazeera.
“That’s why the community are watching the news almost 24 hours,” he said. “Some of them mentioned to me that they haven’t had sleep for almost two nights, especially when the bombing started happening in Beirut.”
Australian officials stand by as Australian nationals, evacuated from Lebanon due to ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, arrive at Larnaca International Airport, in Larnaca, Cyprus, October 5
Israeli forces kill two more paramedics in Lebanon
The Lebanese Ministry of Health says Israeli forces are continuing to target paramedics and emergency centres in the country’s south, killing at least two rescue workers on Sunday.
One of them was killed in an attack on the Islamic Health Association Centre in Houmine El Tahta in the Nabatieh governorate, and the other in an attack on a health centre in the village of Hanaway, near the city of Tyre.
Israeli forces also bombed an ambulance centre in the town of Bazouriyeh, wounding two more paramedics, the ministry said.
The latest killings come despite growing condemnation of Israel’s killing of paramedics in Lebanon. In the past year, Israeli forces have killed more than 200 medical and emergency workers across Lebanon.
On Friday, Israeli forces killed at least 15 paramedics and five bystanders in an attack on a Civil Defence centre in the town of Douris in eastern Baalbek.
Many killed in Lebanon as Israel launches ‘most violent’ raids on Nabatieh
We are getting more information from Lebanon on deadly Israeli raids overnight.
The National News Agency (NNA) is reporting that Israeli forces launched their “most violent” attacks on the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon since the “beginning of the aggression”, killing several people and destroying a large shopping mall in the city centre.
Israeli forces carried out at least 10 attacks on the city centre and struck dozens of towns and villages in the Nabatieh governorate.
NNA listed the names of at least seven people who were killed in the attacks. The agency said at least six paramedics were also killed.
Israeli forces kill six more paramedics in Lebanon
The National News Agency is reporting that Israeli jets bombed the Islamic Health Authority centre in the village of Arab Salim in the Nabatieh governorate, killing six more paramedics.
It listed their names as Mustafa Hanawi, Hassan Aboud, Muhammad Hanawi, Ahmed Abbas Aboud, Ahmed Mahmoud Aboud and Abbas Aboud.
Earlier, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported that two rescue workers were killed and two wounded in Israeli attacks on Nabatieh and South Lebanon governorates. The Lebanese government and rights groups have accused Israel of deliberately targeting medical and emergency workers in Lebanon, noting that Israeli attacks have killed more than 200 healthcare workers in the past year.
