Lebanon says 50 medics killed in previous three days as Israel extends its bombardment

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Lebanese authorities mentioned Israel’s bombardment had killed 50 well being staff prior to now three days as Israeli fighter jets continued to launch strikes throughout the Arab state.

The Israeli navy mentioned on Saturday its forces had struck a mosque adjoining to a hospital, which it mentioned was being utilized by Hizbollah fighters as a command centre, whereas its forces battled the militant group’s fighters within the border area.

A Hizbollah-affiliated hospital in southern Lebanon, The Martyr Salah Ghandour, mentioned it was hit by a strike shortly after the Israeli navy issued orders that or not it’s evacuated, in response to an announcement on Lebanon’s state information company on Saturday. It mentioned 9 employees had been injured within the assault on Friday within the city of Bint Jbeil.

A spokesperson from the Lebanese well being ministry informed the Monetary Instances on Saturday that fifty medics had been killed prior to now 72 hours.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director-general, mentioned that the capability of Lebanon’s well being system was deteriorating and that the UN company’s “medical provides can’t be delivered because of the nearly full closure of Beirut’s airport”.

“WHO calls on pressing facilitation of flights to ship well being provides to Lebanon. Lives rely on it!” he mentioned on X.

Israel has issued a number of evacuation orders in current days, warning folks in cities and villages throughout the south to maneuver north. It has given comparable orders throughout its conflict towards Hamas in Gaza forward of massive offensives.

Iranian-backed Hizbollah mentioned there have been clashes with Israeli troops across the Lebanese border city of Odeisseh. The official Lebanese information company reported shelling of Odeisseh and three different southern villages.

Israel has intensified its assault towards Hizbollah over the previous two weeks because it has shifted its focus from Gaza to the northern entrance. It has killed Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, launched air strikes throughout Lebanon and despatched troops into Lebanon’s south for the primary time in nearly twenty years.

The escalation has heightened fears about all-out conflict within the Center East. The area is bracing for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response to an Iranian missile barrage fired at Israel on Tuesday.

Tehran mentioned the missile assault was in response to the assassination of Nasrallah and the killing of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.

Israel struck the southern suburbs of Beirut on Saturday afternoon focusing on the Borj al-Barajna Palestinian refugee camp with 4 missiles, in response to the Lebanese state information company. Hizbollah mentioned Israel bombed a conference centre within the southern neighbourhood of Dahiyeh in a single day. The group used the advanced to host occasions.

Nearly 2,000 folks have been killed in Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon prior to now 12 months, in accordance Lebanese authorities, after Hizbollah began firing missiles at Israel in assist of Hamas in Gaza. The bulk had been killed prior to now two weeks, Lebanon’s well being minister mentioned.

Greater than 1.2mn folks have been displaced, triggering one of many worst crises for the nation in a long time.

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s international minister, met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Saturday, a day after visiting Beirut.

Israel “speaks no different language than conflict and coercion and continues its crimes in Beirut, southern Lebanon and Gaza each day,” Araghchi mentioned. He added that he would proceed discussions on ceasefire initiatives in Lebanon and Gaza with Syrian officers.

This week there have been indications that Israel has expanded its offensive to incorporate Hizbollah’s civil infrastructure, whereas additionally focusing on the group’s leaders.

The motion is Lebanon’s dominant political drive and has an enormous community of social programmes and enterprise pursuits. On Thursday, Israel struck a Hizbollah-linked medical facility within the coronary heart of Beirut, killing no less than 9 folks, together with well being staff, in addition to a constructing utilized by the group’s media relations workforce within the southern suburbs.

The strike on a Palestinian refugee camp within the northern metropolis of Tripoli killed Saeed Atallah Ali, a commander of its Qassam Brigades and his household within the early hours of Saturday, Hamas mentioned. A second Hamas chief, Mohammed Hussein al-Louise, was killed in an air raid within the Bekaa Valley.

In northern Israel, air raid sirens sounded as Hizbollah launched rocket barrages. The Israel Protection Forces mentioned the militant group shot 222 projectiles at Israel on Friday.

It mentioned it had killed 250 Hizbollah fighters, together with 4 battalion commanders, because the begin of the bottom offensive in Lebanon this week.

9 Israeli troopers have been killed in clashes with Hizbollah in southern Lebanon because the combating intensified.

Joe Biden has urged Israel to make a “proportional” response to Iran’s missile strikes, and to keep away from focusing on Iranian nuclear websites or oil infrastructure. However the president has additionally made it clear that the US supported Israel’s navy riposte.

“The Israelis have each proper to reply to the vicious assaults on them, not simply on the Iranians however on everybody from Hizbollah to the Houthis,” Biden mentioned.

Further reporting by Bita Ghaffari in Tehran