Israel escalates Lebanon attacks as US ceasefire bid appears to be failing
It’s been a deadly and violent 24 hours, with Israel escalating attacks, particularly in the Tyre district.
Israel has carried out a series of air attacks, disrupting Hezbollah supply lines – that seems to be the objective, because Israeli ground troops are trying to advance deeper inside Lebanon.
But as these Israeli attacks are hitting anyone or anything affiliated with Hezbollah, paramedics are also being killed. Two more paramedics were killed today.
There have been more than 226 deaths of health workers in the past 13 months of fighting, the majority since mid-September when Israel escalated its war against Hezbollah.
The attacks against health workers have not just been condemned by the Health Ministry, but also by human rights groups and the World Health Organization, saying they violate international humanitarian law.
Every time these paramedics head to a site to retrieve bodies or to help the wounded, they come under fire. Even centres where they work have been hit. Earlier this month, such a centre in Baalbek, in eastern Lebanon, was hit and more than a dozen paramedics were killed.
The trajectory of this conflict is one of escalation at a time when it is becoming clear that the latest attempt by the US administration to bring about a ceasefire has failed.
Israeli attacks kill three more paramedics in Lebanon: Ministry
Three more paramedics have been killed in Lebanon today, according to the country’s Health Ministry. Israeli attacks once again hit healthcare workers from the Islamic Health Organization, this time in Qatrani, in the Jezzine district of southern Lebanon, the ministry said.
It condemned the act as one amounting to “war crimes”.
An earlier attack today on paramedics from the same organisation killed two in Deir Qanoun Ras al-Ain.
Israeli missile razes building in southern Beirut’s Chiyah
An Israeli missile has levelled a multistorey building in Beirut’s southern suburb of Chiyah. Footage shared on social media of the attack, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking unit, shows the missile slamming directly into the side of the building and collapsing it as onlookers in nearby streets panic.
It is unclear if there are casualties in the area, which Israel’s military earlier told residents to evacuate.
Rockets hit UNIFIL base in Lebanon, wounding 4 Italian soldiers
At least four Italian peacekeepers have been slightly injured in an explosion caused by two rockets hitting a UN peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon, Italy’s Defence Ministry says.
The attack at the UNP 2-3 base in Chamaa, which hosts the Italian contingent, is the latest in a string of attacks against the UN mission, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which has been tasked with preventing hostilities from escalating in southern Lebanon since its establishment in 2006.
“From an initial reconstruction, two rockets hit a bunker on the base and a room near the international military police, causing damage to the surrounding infrastructure. Some glass shattered due to the explosion, hitting the four soldiers,” the ministry said in a statement.
Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said he contacted both Lebanese and Israeli authorities, stressing that UNIFIL troops remain in southern Lebanon “to offer a window of opportunity for peace and cannot become hostage to militia attacks. It is intolerable that once again a UNIFIL base has been hit.”
He said he would try to contact Israel’s defence minister “to ask him to avoid using the UNIFIL bases as a shield”.
UNIFIL says Hezbollah likely behind rocket attack on base
The two rockers that struck a UNIFIL base in southern Lebanon and slightly injured four Italian soldiers were “likely launched by Hezbollah or affiliated groups”, the peacekeeping mission has said.
“Today’s attack comes amid heavy shelling and ground skirmishes in the Shama [Chamaa] and Naqoura areas in recent days, heightening tensions in the region,” it said in a statement.
“UNIFIL strongly urges combating parties to avoid fighting next to its positions. Inviolability of UN premises and personnel must be respected at all times,” it added.
