Lebanese emergency workers say they are under ‘specific attack’ by Israelis – but won’t be intimidated to leave

Published

9 months ago

October 4, 2024

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Multiple ambulances destroyed, stations hit, Civil Defence crews killed… emergency workers in Lebanon say they’re suffering a sustained attack on them by Israeli forces.

“We are definitely coming under specific attack,” Sayyed Abdullah, head of Civil Defence in the south, told a group of mainly foreign media.

“We have had 40 ambulances which have been completely destroyed,” he said, adding: “On top of that 24 rescuing stations have been hit – just in this area.

Israel-Iran latest: Powerful explosions near Beirut airport

“They were all targeted directly and I’m just speaking about our organisation.”

A number of his colleagues, young and old, echoed that belief.

One Civil Defence worker who’s been part of the emergency crew for 20 years told us how earlier in the day, a team of his colleagues had raced to a bomb site to help the injured.

“The first team went to rescue them and they were hit. Another team went to rescue them, they were also hit,” he said.

“At the end the Red Cross went to rescue them and they too were attacked.”

His 20-year-old young co-worker Yasser told us he would not be intimidated into leaving: “We will not leave. If we leave, who will look after the people?”

Several Civil Defence crews have been killed – seven in one hit in Beirut. Their colleagues and friends need no more convincing their lives are at risk.

The airstrikes and casualties are on a daily basis in this area of southern Lebanon.

The thud of bombs landing are a regular frightening noise here now. But with doctors and nurses too feeling they are being targeted, it seems it’s becoming more and more risky to be an emergency worker in Lebanon.

“There are international laws protecting doctors all over the world,” Dr Hussam Telleih, one young doctor told us, adding: “But not in Lebanon.

“There are no Hezbollah weapons in this hospital. You can see for yourself. You’ve been all over the hospital. We completely deny this.”

“They are trying to do here what they did in Gaza. They said the same about al Shifa hospital in Gaza, calling it a Hamas control centre. We feel we are next.”

As we are at the latest bomb site where the Civil Defence teams are working, an alarm goes up and we’re told to evacuate.

The crews are nervous. There’s a group of them in one place to talk to the assembled media and they’re worried that this number of vehicles all together might draw the attention of the ‘eyes in the skies’ – the Israeli drones which also constantly circle above.

We reached out to the Israeli Defence Forces media office for comment on these accusations, but we received no reply.

When we move to another site in Tyre city, a young man is hobbling on a crutch near another crushed building.

He tells us about what appears to be a miraculous escape from death. An airstrike has caused two buildings to collapse, killing a family of five. Three women, including a teenager, a grandfather and a two-year-old baby have died.

The young man was in the neighbouring house but tells us he was trapped for several hours before rescue workers pulled him out of the rubble barely conscious.

“It’s lies,” he says, referring to the Israeli claim that every house hit contains Hezbollah weapons, a fighter or commander. “This is all lies. We are civilians and my uncle was killed and he wasn’t doing anything.”

We see, far off in the distance, dozens of volleys of rockets being fired off one after another.

We’ve stopped to try to find a mechanic who can help repair our vehicle’s punctured tyre, and a small group has gathered to watch the rockets shooting off. There are appreciative noises and a frisson of excitement among the group as the blasts arc across the skyline.

But the far more constant thunderous drum is the crashing thud and boom of Israeli missiles landing.

And that doesn’t seem likely to ease any time soon.

A Sky News documentary, Netanyahu, will air today 4 October at 9pm

Alex Crawford reports from Tyre in southern Lebanon with camera Jake Britton, specialist producer Chris Cunningham and Lebanon producers Jihad Jneid and Sami Zein.

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At least 30 dead and 100 injured as armed groups clash in Syria, officials say

Published

14 hours ago

July 14, 2025

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At least 30 dead and 100 injured as armed groups clash in Syria, officials say

At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.

Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.

The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.

It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.

The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.

Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.

But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.

It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.

Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.

Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.

That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.

The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.

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Meredith Kercher’s killer faces new trial over sexual assault allegations

Published

1 day ago

July 13, 2025

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Meredith Kercher's killer faces new trial over sexual assault allegations

The man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend.

Rudy Guede, 38, was the only person who was definitively convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy, back in 2007.

He will be standing trial again in November after an ex-girlfriend filed a police report in the summer of 2023 accusing Guede of mistreatment, personal injury and sexual violence.

Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was released from prison for the murder of Leeds University student Ms Kercher in 2021, after having served about 13 years of a 16-year sentence.

Since last year – when this investigation was still ongoing – Guede has been under a “special surveillance” regime, Sky News understands, meaning he was banned from having any contact with the woman behind the sexual assault allegations, including via social media, and had to inform police any time he left his city of residence, Viterbo, as ruled by a Rome court.

Guede has been serving a restraining order and fitted with an electronic ankle tag.

The Kercher murder case, in the university city of Perugia, was the subject of international attention.

Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found murdered in the flat she shared with her American roommate, Amanda Knox.

The Briton’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed 47 times.

Ms Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were placed under suspicion.

Both were initially convicted of murder, but Italy’s highest court overturned their convictions, acquitting them in 2015.

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IDF blames ‘technical error’ after Gaza officials say children collecting water killed in strike

Published

1 day ago

July 13, 2025

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IDF blames 'technical error' after Gaza officials say children collecting water killed in strike

The Israeli military says it missed its intended target after Gaza officials said 10 Palestinians – including six children – were killed in a strike at a water collection point.

Another 17 people were wounded in the strike on a water distribution point in Nuseirat refugee camp, said Ahmed Abu Saifan, an emergency physician at Al Awda Hospital.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it had intended to hit an Islamic Jihad militant but a “technical error with the munition” had caused the missile to fall “dozens of metres from the target”.

The IDF said the incident is under review, adding that it “works to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians as much as possible” and “regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians”.

Officials at Al Awda Hospital said it received 10 bodies after the Israeli strike on the water collection point and six children were among the dead.

Ramadan Nassar, who lives in the area, said around 20 children and 14 adults were lined up Sunday morning to fill up water.

When the strike occurred, everyone ran and some, including those who were severely injured, fell to the ground, he said.

In total, 19 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, local health officials said.

Two women and three children were among nine killed after an Israeli strike on a home in the central town of Zawaida, officials at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.

Israel has claimed it hit more than 150 targets in the besieged enclave in the past day.

The latest strikes come after the Israel military opened fire near an aid centre in Rafah on Saturday. The Red Cross said 31 people were killed.

The IDF has said it fired “warning shots” near the aid distribution site but it was “not aware of injured individuals” as a result.

The war in Gaza started in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and saw about 250 taken hostage.

More than 58,000 Palestinians have since been killed, with more than half being women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

US President Donald Trump has said he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war.

But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there were no signs of a breakthrough, as a new sticking point emerged over the deployment of Israeli troops during the truce.

Hamas still holds 50 hostages, with fewer than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.