Two paramedics killed in Israeli strikes as soldiers reach 5km beyond Lebanese border

Israel also carried out several strikes in southern Beirut

An Israeli air strike targeted Haret Hreik in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Saturday. AFP

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Two paramedics were killed in separate Israeli strikes on Saturday as Israeli troops reached the deepest point into Lebanon since it invaded six weeks ago, the country's state media reported.

The attacks on medics came just two days after 15 civil defence workers were killed in a strike on the Douris Civil Defence centre in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley.

One paramedic killed in an attack in the town of Borj Rahal in the south was "directly targeted by the Israeli enemy during his rescue work to pull out a wounded person", Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health wrote in a statement on X.

Just 45 minutes away by car in Kfar Tebnit, another paramedic was killed and four injured in a strike on an ambulance team from the Islamic Health Authority on a rescue mission. Two paramedics remain missing. Israel has not commented on the strikes, but the Ministry of Public Health reiterated its "condemnation of these barbaric attacks on paramedics during their humanitarian rescue work, which shows an unprecedented level of violence that leaves no room for humanitarian values that were previously absent during wars and conflicts."

Israeli troops on the ground in Lebanon also briefly captured a strategic hill in the southern Lebanese village of Chamaa, about 5km from the Israeli border early on Saturday before being pushed back, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA)reported.

It added that Israeli troops blew up the Shrine of Shimon the Prophet in Chamaa as well as several homes before they withdrew, but the claim could not be immediately verified. Israel's military said in a statement that its troops “continue their limited, localised, and targeted operational activity in southern Lebanon”. The military did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Lebanese media reports.

Strikes at the heart of Lebanon's capital also continued as an eviction notice was followed by bombings on Haret Hreik, in south Beirut. They were the latest in a series of strikes on the city's southern suburbs, an area traditionally seen as one where Hezbollah is popular that is also the densely populated home of many civilians, since Tuesday. Saturday's strikes came shortly after the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman, Col Avichay Adraee, announced on X that Lebanese civilians should leave the area.

“You are close to facilities and interests belonging to Hezbollah, against which the Israeli military will be acting with force in the near future,” the post said in Arabic, identifying specific buildings and telling residents to move at least 500 metres away.

The NNA reported three air raids were conducted, damaging a number of buildings in the area. Footage posted online purported to show large clouds of smoke and debris billowing into the sky after the strikes. On Saturday afternoon, the ever-present sound of Israeli drones above could be heard across Beirut.

Israel confirmed it had carried out the strikes, saying in a statement that Iran-backed Hezbollah “has systematically embedded its terrorist infrastructure amid the Lebanese civilian population, cynically exploiting them as a human shield”.

Repeated Israeli air strikes on south Beirut have led to a mass exodus of civilians from the area, although some return during the day to check on their homes and businesses.

Israel carried out several strikes on Friday night and into Saturday in southern Lebanon, according to the NNA.

Elsewhere, Israeli strikes on villages in south Lebanon killed at least two medics early on Saturday, the Lebanese health ministry said. At least 15 civil defence workers were killed in Baalbek in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley on Thursday night.

The Israeli army on Saturday said approximately 20 projectiles had been identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Some of the projectiles were intercepted, it said.

It also said that sirens sounded in the Eilat area after a projectile was launched from the east but did not cross into Israeli territory on Saturday.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a pro-Iran group, claimed that fighters launched two drone attacks targeting a “vital target” in Eilat. The group has been launching attacks on Israel since the start of the war in Gaza.

Overnight, Hezbollah also claimed two rocket attacks targeting the headquarters of an infantry battalion in northern Israel.

Since September 23, Israel has ramped up its air campaign in Lebanon, later sending in ground troops, following almost a year of limited, cross-border exchanges begun by Hezbollah over the Gaza war.

Lebanese authorities say that more than 3,300 people have been killed since October last year, when the Lebanese militant group and Israel began trading fire.

The conflict has cost Lebanon more than $5 billion in economic losses, with actual structural damage amounting to billions more, the World Bank said on Thursday.

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Friday asked Iran to help secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah and appeared to urge it to convince the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border.

As a top adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei visited Lebanon for talks, Lebanese officials said an American proposal for a ceasefire deal had been passed on to Hezbollah, aiming to end 13 months of exchanges of fire between Israel and the group. Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah and for decades has been funding it.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 ignited the war in Gaza.

On Friday, Israel struck the Mazzeh district of the Syrian capital Damascus, the second such attack in two days to hit the neighbourhood that is home to embassies, security headquarters and United Nations offices.

Attacks blamed on or claimed by Israel have also intensified in Syria, including in areas near the Lebanese border, mainly targeting bastions of Hezbollah.