Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon kill 10, including paramedics and
a child, officials say
[May 23, 2026]
By BASSEM MROUE
BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon Friday killed 10
people, including six paramedics and a Syrian girl, Lebanon’s Health
Ministry said, the latest in near-daily attacks from both sides that
have not stopped despite the fragile, U.S.-brokered ceasefire in the
Israel-Hezbollah war.
The first strike hit the village of Hanouiyeh, killing four paramedics
working for Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Association and wounding two
others including one paramedic, the ministry said.
Another strike Friday morning on the village of Deir Qanoun al Nahr in
the coastal Tyre province killed six people, including a Syrian child
and two paramedics from the Al-Risala Scouts Association, a paramedic
group affiliated with Hezbollah’s ally, the Amal movement, the ministry
said. An additional six people were injured, including three paramedics
and a Syrian woman.
The Health Ministry said the two attacks “violated” international law.
On Thursday, the World Health Organization reported 169 confirmed
attacks on healthcare workers and facilities in Lebanon, resulting in
116 deaths, since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began.
The Israeli military said it struck several Hezbollah infrastructure
sites in the area of Hanouiyeh where Hezbollah members were present.
It said that it is examining the claim that several uninvolved
individuals in the area, who were not the targets of the strike, were
harmed, adding that in the area of the strike, steps were taken to
evacuate the population. Before the strikes, steps were taken to
mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and
aerial surveillance, according to the military.
The army added that Israeli soldiers identified a Hezbollah member
traveling on a motorcycle in the area of Deir Qanoun al Nahr and
following the identification, the military struck the member in order to
remove the threat.
It said that shortly afterward, Israeli soldiers identified in the same
area an additional Hezbollah member moving on a motorcycle and struck
him.
The Israeli military has previously accused the Iran-backed Hezbollah
militant group of using ambulances as cover for militant activities,
without offering evidence.
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Women grieve over the bodies of relatives who were killed on Tuesday
in Israeli airstrikes in the southern village of Deir Qanoun al-Nahr,
ahead of their funeral procession inside a morgue in the southern
port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP
Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
The attacks by Israel and Hezbollah have continued despite a
U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
Earlier this week, Lebanon's Health Ministry said that the death toll in
the latest round of fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed
Hezbollah in Lebanon surpassed 3,000.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2, after Hezbollah fired
rockets into northern Israel two days after the U.S. and Israel started
their attacks on Iran, a main backer of the militant Lebanese group.
Also Friday, the Lebanese army and the General Security Directorate
issued statements declaring that their officers are disciplined,
professional and loyal solely to their institutions and the nation.
The statements came a day after the U.S. Department of the Treasury
imposed sanctions on a group of Hezbollah-affiliated legislators, state
security officials and allies of the militant group for allegedly
seeking to preserve the Iran-backed group’s influence over Lebanese
state institutions and obstruct disarmament efforts.
It was the first time Washington has sanctioned sitting Lebanese state
security officials, one from the country’s General Security Directorate
and the other from the military intelligence, both of them accused of
providing Hezbollah with “illicit support” and intelligence during the
ongoing conflict.
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Associated Press writer Sam Mednick contributed to this report from Tel
Aviv, Israel.
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