BEIRUT (AP) – An Israeli attack on a health center in the south Lebanon killing 12 medical workers instantly, seriously injuring one, and leaving four missing under the rubble for hours.
The March 13 attack on the village of Burj Qalaouiyah, one of the deadliest single attacks in Lebanon since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2, targeted a center run by of Hezbollah the health wing, the Islamic Health Society, which has so far lost 24 members over the past two weeks.
Since the start of the latest war, the Israeli military has not only targeted the group’s military assets but also its civilian institutions in an apparent effort to further weaken the Iran-backed group and alienate its supporters.
Hezbollah is a political party as well as an armed group, and its health and social institutions have helped strengthen its support base over the years.
In addition to the health centers, Israel has destroyed more than a dozen branches of Hezbollah’s financial arm. al-Qard al-Hasan. Other attacks heavily damaged the headquarters of Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV and its Al-Nour radio stations.
The strikes have also targeted the group’s Amana petrol stations and discount stores known as Sajjad, where people on low incomes can buy heavily subsidized products.
On Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut killed Mohammed Sherri, head of political programming at Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television, along with his wife.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of using health facilities for military purposes and said al-Qard al-Hasan – officially a charity that offers interest-free loans – finances the group’s military activities. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health denies Israeli claims that Hezbollah’s health facilities are used for military purposes.
“This is a different war that will not end with a ceasefire,” said Hilal Khashan, a political scientist at the American University of Beirut. “This war will not end before Israel achieves its full objective – that is, the elimination of Hezbollah not only as a military movement, but also the ultimate objective of erasing Hezbollah from the Lebanese political picture.”
Hezbollah is under internal and external pressure to disarm and knows that the last fight is decisive. Intense clashes along Lebanon’s southern border between Hezbollah fighters and advancing Israeli troops have left dozens of Lebanese gunmen dead.
During a visit to the northern front on Monday, Israeli army chief General Eyal Zamir said Hezbollah is now fighting “a war for its very existence and is paying a heavy price for entering this battle”. He added that the pressures exerted by the Israeli army will only “increase more and more”.
Hezbollah vows to keep fighting
“This is an existential battle. It is not a limited or simple battle,” the Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem he said in a televised address over the weekend. Kasemi vowed that his group would fight to the end and never give up.
Israel says Lebanon has failed to disarm the group in accordance with the Lebanese government’s own plans, and that therefore Israel will carry out the mission itself.
Unlike previous conflicts with Israel, this current one comes after the Lebanese government has called Hezbollah’s military activities illegal and authorities have arrested several members of the group for carrying weapons without a license.
As in previous wars, Hezbollah is being criticized by its opponents in Lebanon, who blame the Iran-backed group for triggering this war by firing rockets into Israel. Hezbollah fired the missiles to avenge the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, less than two days after the US and Israel launched their attacks on Iran, sparking a Middle East war.
Israel responded with a campaign of airstrikes in parts of Lebanon that has so far left more than 1,000 people dead and over 1 million displaced from their homes in southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut.
“Hezbollah took a suicidal initiative that will not change the equation,” said lawmaker Samy Gemayel, who heads the nationalist Kataeb Party, adding that Tehran is using Lebanon “as a platform to protect Iran.”
A previous 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 ended in a draw. A 14-month conflict that began in October 2023 — when Hezbollah fired rockets in support of the Palestinians a day after the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas in southern Israel — killed many Hezbollah’s political and military command and left the group severely weakened but not destroyed.
Strikes followed by reactions
After airstrikes hit Hezbollah facilities in central Beirut as well, residents protested and forced the group to close a branch al-Qard al-Hasan in the heart of the capital. Bowing to pressure, workers removed the financial institution’s sign and dismantled ATMs, marking the end of its presence in central Beirut.
Amnesty International has said that branches of al-Qard al-Hasan are not legitimate military targets under international humanitarian law and that the attacks should be investigated as war crimes.
“The Israeli military seems to assume that labeling something as linked to Hezbollah, be it health care workers, homes in border villages or financial institutions, makes it a target. This is wrong,” said Heba Morayef, regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
Mahmoud Karaki of Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Association said that during the last war in 2024, his group lost 153 members in Israeli attacks. But he vowed that the group will continue its work as it has done in previous wars.
“By targeting us, they are targeting the safety net for people and their stability in the attacked areas,” Karaki said.
The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesman claimed Hezbollah is using ambulances to transport weapons and fighters, a charge the paramedic group vehemently denies.
Hezbollah and Iranian officials have said that any halt to US-Israeli attacks on Iran must also include a halt to Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
Senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qamati told Lebanese Al-Jadeed television on Monday that “Iran will not leave Lebanon and neither the resistance nor will it allow Lebanon to remain defenseless,” adding that “Lebanon will be part of this victory and will not be left alone.”
When Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was asked if Tehran could agree to a ceasefire to stop attacks on Iran as they continue in Lebanon, he said: “I don’t think so.”
“We don’t believe in a ceasefire; we believe in ending the war. And ending the war means just that – ending the war on all fronts,” Araghchi told Al Jazeera English, adding that this includes Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Iran and “other countries in the region”.
By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press
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