Three killed in Israeli airstrike were emergency workers, Lebanon says. Israel says it targeted terrorists
By Hamdi Alkhshali, CNN
(CNN) — Three people were killed and two wounded in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, authorities in the country said Saturday.
The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said three emergency workers were killed in the attack as they tried to contain a fire in the town of Froun, Nabatieh district. It said the attack was the second time an ambulance team had been targeted within 12 hours and was a violation of international law.
However, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strike had “eliminated terrorists” from the Amal movement, a Hezbollah-allied Shia group. The Amal movement released a statement saying two of its members had been killed “while performing their humanitarian and national duty in defense of Lebanon and the South.”
Hezbollah said in a statement Sunday that its fighters “bombed the Kiryat Shmona settlement” with a salvo of missiles in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon, singling out the airstrike that killed the three emergency workers.
The IDF said early Sunday that about 50 “projectiles” were launched from southern Lebanon toward Kiryat Shmona in upper Galilee, Israel’s northernmost territory. Most were intercepted, and no injuries were reported, it said.
The Israeli military said Sunday its air force struck Hezbollah military structures overnight in the areas of Aitaroun, Maroun El Ras, and Yaroun in southern Lebanon. It also said it struck and “eliminated terrorists” from the Amal movement in the area of Froun.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati characterized Saturday’s deadly airstrike as “a blatant violation of international laws and a blatant aggression against human values,” and called on Western ambassadors and other international representatives to attend an emergency meeting at his headquarters in Beirut on Monday.
He said the meeting aimed to demand accountability and “pressure the Israeli enemy that does not care about any law and continues to ignite the fire of its crimes against Lebanon and the Lebanese.”
Cross-border fire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah has been an almost daily occurrence since the war in Gaza began.
Lebanon’s Civil Defense director Brigadier General Raymond Khattar extended his “deepest condolences” to the families of those affected.
He also wished a “speedy recovery” to one of the injured men, whom the Civil Defense identified as Mohammad Amasha. The injured man had been “transferred to Tebnin Governmental Hospital, where he is undergoing surgery due to a serious injury he sustained as a result of the raid,” the Civil Defense said.
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