BEIRUT: The Israeli military is preventing paramedics, regardless of affiliation, from carrying out relief efforts in Beirut’s southern suburb, as well as in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese state’s Civil Defense center, located in the Hadath area near Beirut’s southern suburb, received a call purportedly from the Israeli military on Thursday night warning them not to “move any vehicles toward the targeted site,” following a series of airstrikes carried in the Mrayjeh area of the suburb, despite having received distress calls for missing persons.
On Friday morning photojournalists attempting to reach the site of the strikes, which shook Beirut, Mount Lebanon, and were heard as far as Sidon, were targeted by an Israeli combat drone.
Hezbollah said in a statement: “One member of the Civil Defense from the Islamic Health Organization was killed and several others injured while attempting to clear the rubble at the Mrayjeh site, as they were targeted by a drone strike.”
The Israeli targeting extended to paramedics and hospitals in the southern border area, resulting in two hospitals being forced out of service.
Four paramedics from Hezbollah were killed when they were targeted by a drone strike at the entrance to Marjayoun Governmental Hospital in the morning. The hospital administration decided to evacuate staff and halt work.
An Israeli airstrike also targeted a health center in the town of Kherbet Selem, killing two paramedics and wounding several others.
Mays Al-Jabal Hospital announced the suspension of work “due to the Israeli attacks on hospital staff, including the use of internationally prohibited white phosphorus in the vicinity of the hospital, as well as difficulties in securing diesel, electricity, water, food, access for medical and nursing staff and medicines.”
Saint Therese Medical Hospital in the southern suburb of Beirut announced that it was targeted by Israeli airstrikes, causing serious damage to the building, medical equipment and operating rooms. It appealed for help to continue its operations.
The Israeli military carried out more than 12 airstrikes on Mrayjeh. According to Israeli media, it used “fortification-piercing bombs and dropped 73 tons of explosives, in an attempt to assassinate the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, Hashem Safieddine, a potential successor to the party’s former chief Hassan Nasrallah.” The attack was described as “the largest since the assassination of Nasrallah a week ago.”
More than 15 hours after the airstrikes, the fate of Safieddine and those who were meeting with him “in the deepest shelters,” as the Israelis described it, remains unclear. Hezbollah did not issue an official statement.
The Israeli military said: “We are still assessing the damage caused by the airstrikes that targeted Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut.”
Israel’s pursuit of Hezbollah extended on Friday morning to cutting off the main artery that connects Lebanon to Syria.
Less than 24 hours after Israel warned Lebanon not to use the Masnaa border crossing for Hezbollah military purposes, Israeli warplanes struck the Lebanese side of the land beyond the police post, creating a deep crater that cut off the road in both directions, completely disrupting traffic.
Thousands of Lebanese and Syrian civilians have fled to Syria to escape the war.
According to security reports, the Israeli military shelled “a Hezbollah tunnel on the border between Syria and Lebanon,” but the report has not been confirmed by either side.
Lebanese Minister of Public Works Ali Hamieh said that the Israeli raid “landed inside Lebanese territory, creating a four-meter-wide crater.”
Reporters in Bekaa said that “warplanes launched three missiles.”
People crossing the border, including women and children, were stuck on the road between the two border points for hours, which forced them to continue their journey on foot.
The Israeli military had previously bombed the Matraba border crossing between Syria and Lebanon in Hermel.
There are six legal crossings between Lebanon and Syria, in addition to dozens of illegal crossings used for smuggling and by Hezbollah.
Israeli raids on Beirut’s southern suburb, southern Lebanon and northern Bekaa continued on Friday, reaching flea markets in Tarya and blocking the main road that connects the village to its neighborhoods.
The raids also targeted Hermel, the surroundings of the Lebanese University in Beirut’s southern suburb, and a warehouse adjacent to Beirut’s airport, without affecting air traffic.
The Israeli military instructed on Friday the residents of over 20 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately and head north of Al-Awali River.
The warnings created a state of shock among residents, some of whom refused to evacuate and remained in their houses.
In Qlayaa, Father Pierre Al-Rahi of the St. George’s Maronite Church urged residents “not to leave the village despite the threats.
He said: “We are peaceful citizens and there are no military movements or facilities in our area.
“We took a final decision to protect our village from the entry of weapons and we promise not to leave.”
Rmeish — a predominantly Christian village on the southern border — was subject to Israeli hostilities for the first time.
A crisis cell was established next to Beirut’s port to provide shelters for displaced people in the areas of Keserwan and Mount Lebanon.
Hezbollah announced that it carried out several operations against Israeli military posts, including “bombing Krayot, north of Haifa, with a rocket salvo, and the Ilaniya base.”
The militant group also targeted “artillery emplacements in south of Kiryat Shmona, and a Merkava in the surroundings of Malkia with a guided missile.”
Israel’s Army Radio reported that “about 60 missiles were launched from Lebanon toward Israel since the morning.”
The Israeli military published footage of their incursion into the Lebanese border village of Kfarkila, where it found “dozens of weapons left behind by Hezbollah.”
The militant group, however, doubted the authenticity of the footage.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Beirut on a diplomatic mission having received special permission.
Last week, Lebanon prohibited an Iranian plane from landing due to Israel’s direct threats to Beirut air traffic control tower.
Araghchi held several meetings with a number of officials, affirming that “Iran stands with Lebanon and Hezbollah.”
He said: “We aren’t planning on continuing this war unless Israel decided to continue its hostilities.
“If the Israeli side took any measures against us, we will respond, and our response will be fully appropriate and studied.”
Araghchi noted that the Iranian attack against Israel “was an act of self-defense and in response to the attacks on Iranian interests,” adding that “we only hit military and security posts.”
