Israel Damages Lebanese University in Beirut – Six Paramedics Killed in Southern Lebanon
The Ministry of Health announced that the death toll has risen to 3,136 and 13,979 injured since the onset of the Israeli war.
The Lebanese University in Hadath, in the southern district of Beirut, sustained significant damage by an Israeli army airstrike on Friday, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported.
NNA said on Saturday that some buildings of the faculties and laboratories at Rafik Hariri campus – the largest complexes of the Lebanese University – were badly damaged.
The University President, Bassam Badran, stressed that the educational facility “will remain resilient in the face of Israeli war machinery.”
“These attacks will not deter it from continuing its mission of education and community service,” he told reporters, noting that the university kicked off the current academic year remotely a few days ago.
In parallel, the Israeli army carried on a number of airstrikes targeting several cities, towns, and villages across Lebanon.
The Emergency Operations Center of the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) said on Saturday night that Israeli air raids on Deir Qanoun Ras Al-Ain and Ain Baal, in the southern city of Tyre, targeted gathering points of paramedics, killing six and injuring four.
A statement by the ministry revealed that five of the slain paramedics belonged to Al-Rissala Scouts while another from the health authority was killed and two others were wounded in Deir Qanoun Ras Al-Ain.
The statement added that three other paramedics from the Al-Rissala Association were injured in Ain Baal.
NNA reported earlier that Israel’s warplanes enforced a fire belt on Samaiya, Deir Qanoun Ras al-Ain, Batoulieh, Ain Baal, and al-Kanissa in Tyre.
Also in the south, the Israeli army launched on Saturday three raids in Mrai’saa in Ansar, and another in Majdal in Tyre, two raids in Khirbet Selem and Kfardounin in Nabatieh and another targeting a house in the town of Burj Qalawieh in the city while artillery shelling targeted Khiyam, NNA reported.
In conjunction, the Baalbek-Hermel Governor Bashir Khodr announced in a post on X, the death of 16 in the Baalbek-Hermel region, noting that 10 were killed in Al-Kneissah and six were killed in Baalbek, according to NNA.
For its part, the ministry’s operation center stated that 3,136 people have died and 13,979 were injured since the onset of Israel’s relentless war on Lebanon.
The ministry said that 19 people were killed and 91 were injured in Israeli airstrikes on Friday alone.
War on Lebanon
Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, on October 7, 2023, the Lebanese movement Hezbollah has engaged directly, but relatively in a limited way in the war against the Israeli occupation.
Israel escalated its aggression with the cyber-terror attacks on September 17 and 18, which claimed the lives of at least 37 people including children, and injured around 3000 others.
This went hand in hand with a series of assassinations of Hezbollah leaders, including that of the Secretary-General of the resistance party Hassan Nasrallah on September 27.
These developments coincided with unprecedented bombings and airstrikes by Israel’s army on different cities across Lebanon particularly in the south, Bekaa, and the southern district of Beirut.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced on November 8 that 3,136 Lebanese were killed and 13,979 were injured since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Lebanon.
The Lebanese Government Emergency Committee announced on October 29 that the number of shelters had reached 1,100 centers with maximum capacity.
The Head of the committee, Minister of Environment Nasser Yassin revealed that the total number of displaced people exceeds 1.2 million.
According to the committee, 355,910 Syrian nationals and 167,295 Lebanese nationals crossed into Syria from September 23 to October 29.
(PC, NNA)