Israel kills 12 Lebanese interior ministry rescuers in attack on Baalbek civil defence centre

Eight people, including five women, were killed and 27 wounded in another Israeli attack on the eastern city

Rescue workers at the scene of an Israeli strike on Baalbek, in eastern Lebanon. At least 12 paramedics were killed in an attack near the city. AFP

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At least 12 rescuers were killed in an Israeli bombing of a civil defence centre near the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek overnight with a strike hitting Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday after the Israeli military called for people in the area to evacuate.

The fatalities of the Baalbek attack included the head of the civil defence centre, Bilal Raad. Bachir Khodr, the head of the Baalbek-Hermel governorate, said rescuers were continuing to dig through the rubble of the building attacked in Douris, close to Baalbek. The attack destroyed the building operated by the civil defence, a politically unaffiliated emergency rescue service, and a neighbouring residence.

Eight people, including five women, were killed and 27 injured in another Israeli attack on the city, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported on Thursday. In Nabatieh, in southern Lebanon, two people were killed and 30 injured in Israeli raids, the ministry said.

In the capital of Beirut on Friday morning, as many were leaving for work, Israel once again bombed the south of the Lebanese capital after issuing eviction orders. Repeated Israeli bombings on south Beirut throughout the day have led to most people fleeing, although some return during the day to check on their homes and businesses.

Israel has been intensifying its military campaign in Baalbek, destroying large parts of the city while targeting what it says are Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure. However, locals say the dead and damaged buildings are civilian.

The Bekaa Valley is the birthplace of Hezbollah, which emerged in the 1980s.

Hundreds of the region's residents have been killed in strikes, while most of the city's population has been forced to flee following Israeli eviction orders.

Israel first hit Baalbek in February, four months after the beginning of its war in Gaza. The city is a Unesco World Heritage Site, renowned for its 3,000-year-old Roman temples, among the best-preserved in the world, and surrounding areas.

Last week, an Israeli air strike destroyed an Ottoman-era building on the edge of the temple complex. On the other side of the road, the Palmyra Hotel – which once hosted Charles de Gaulle – has closed its doors for the first time in 150 years because of the damage.