At least 10 fire fighters in the southern Lebanon town of Baraachit were killed overnight when the municipal building they were in was attacked by an Israeli airstrike. Israel has not commented directly on the attack, and only insisted that they targeted non-specified “Hezbollah-controlled” buildings in southern Lebanon.
The fire fighters were preparing to go out on rescue missions, with ongoing Israeli attacks across Lebanon, when the building they were in was hit. There are still rescue operations attempted to be ongoing at the site of the strike, with people trapped in the rubble.
Rescue workers have come under repeated attack in southern Lebanon by Israeli forces, even before the recently announced Israeli invasion. The attacks seem only to be picking up in recent days, and the strikes on rescue personnel seem like they will inevitably increase the number of casualties across the warzone.
Officials say 118 rescuers have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the past year, with more than 50 killed just in the past week. Caretaker Lebanese PM Najib Mikati has called on the international community to pressure Israel to allow rescue workers to safely access sites of previous strikes to rescue civilians.
Monday reports from Lebanese media are that the attacks by Israel today are mostly centered on the area near Tyre. Baraachit is further to the east, in the Bint Jbeil District. It was not known to be an active area with evacuation orders at the time of the overnight strike, but seemingly any area in Lebanon could be the next target.
Israel has been conducting a war in the Gaza Strip for a year now, and the war seems to be escalating into Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere in the region. There is no sign what the goals are for any of the wars at the moment, and escalation seems to be the order of the day.
