At least 15 rescue workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike on an emergency response center in northeastern Lebanon. The attack happened yesterday Thursday.
The BBC reported this Friday, quoting the Lebanese state news agency NNA.
Israel's attack on Lebanon's emergency services under hostile conditions has been described as the deadliest in the war. Lebanon's Civil Defense provides emergency services as well as search, rescue and firefighting operations.
A building of the Civil Defense Agency in the town of Douris, near Baalbek, was destroyed in the attack, the BBC reported. The building belonged to the Lebanese government. But there was no connection to the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. Local governor Bashir Khodar said that the city's civil defense chief Bilal Raad was among the dead.
The Israeli military has yet to comment on the attack. However, Lebanon's health ministry described the attack as 'barbaric'.
Lebanon's state news agency NNA reported in a news report that another Israeli airstrike in the country's southern Nabatea region on Thursday killed six people, including five paramedics, at a civil defense center in the town of Arab Salim.
According to information provided by Lebanon's Ministry of Health, at least 192 emergency services and health workers have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since the start of the conflict with Hezbollah in September.
The attacks come at a time when Israel has intensified airstrikes across Lebanon. Especially in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah has a presence. The area came under Israeli airstrikes for the fourth time on Friday.
Recently, various international circles and US officials made the first formal ceasefire proposal to the Lebanese authorities. But the Israeli forces continued their attacks.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese government says that if there is an agreement, it will be based on UN Resolution 1701. Just as Hezbollah and Israel ended the war in 2006.
The resolution calls for both sides to withdraw their fighters and weapons to an area approximately 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Blue Line (the border between Lebanon and Israel) to the Litani River and the border with Israel. The deal could potentially see Lebanon deploy additional troops along its border. They can adopt an approach to implement it. However, Lebanon has not yet given any details in this regard.
Israel, on the other hand, has said that if the agreement is violated, it will invade Lebanon and launch an attack. Because so far neither Hezbollah nor the Lebanese government has given any indication of accepting such demands.
Incidentally, most of Hezbollah's infrastructure has been destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the last two months. Hizbollah has been seriously weakened after the death of many of its leaders. But analysts say the armed group is regrouping after the initial setback. The North continues to attack Israel. But they are not as destructive as before.
