Four dead in Israeli strikes in Lebanon; an ambulance was also hit

At least four people, including a first aid worker, were killed yesterday, Friday, in Israeli raids in southern Lebanon, announced Hezbollah and an affiliated organization. The Shiite militant group declared that it retaliated by launching rockets against Israel.

Since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7, Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian faction and ally of Hamas, has been exchanging fire with the Israeli army daily.

“An Israeli drone targeted an ambulance (…) A member of the immediate relief team was killed and another injured,” said the operations center of the Islamic Health Commission, an organization associated with Hezbollah, to Agence France-Presse, emphasizing the incident in Naqoura, a community on the border with Israel.

The Lebanese official news agency ANI also reported that “an Israeli drone targeted an ambulance of the Islamic Health Commission in Naqoura.”

Later, the Islamic Health Commission informed Agence France-Presse that a woman was killed and four others were injured in an Israeli airstrike on the town of Adloun, 30 kilometers from the border. According to ANI, an Israeli drone struck a house which was “destroyed.”

In an announcement, the Israeli military stated that its aircraft targeted “military infrastructure” in Naqoura, where “terrorist activity was detected.” It also mentioned intercepting a drone coming from Lebanon.

Hezbollah reported that its members launched “dozens of Katyusha rockets” at northern Israel “in retaliation for the attack” in Naqoura, while also claiming responsibility for other attacks on Friday, primarily using drones and missiles.

They emphasized that two of their fighters were killed, without specifying where. A source close to Hezbollah reported that one of the casualties was killed in a bombing in Ain Qana, approximately 45 kilometers from the Israeli border.

The UN coordinator for humanitarian affairs in Lebanon, Imran Riza, expressed being “shocked” that an ambulance was targeted. “Twenty healthcare workers have lost their lives since October 8,” he underscored via X.

In almost eight months of hostilities, around 450 people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly fighters, but also 80 or more civilians, according to a count by Agence France-Presse. Among the casualties are twenty doctors, nurses, and paramedics, including ten workers from the Islamic Health Commission.

On the other side, 14 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed since the exchanges of fire began, according to Israeli authorities.