After the sirens: Lebanon's first responders swing between duty and grief

Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, has seen repeated Israeli airstrikes that continue despite a ceasefire. Civil defense veteran Hussein Jaber and colleague Ahmad Noura were killed by an Israeli drone on May 12 while trying to rescue a man wounded in an earlier strike. Their deaths came days before Jaber’s first wedding anniversary. Over 100 first responders have been killed since the Israel–Hezbollah war began on March 2. Israel accuses Hezbollah of using ambulances and medical facilities for military purposes, while Lebanon’s health ministry denies the claims. International law protects hospitals, rescue teams, and ambulance crews. Al Najdeh al-Shaabiyeh Hospital staff fear the same fate as medical personnel in Gaza, where large numbers were killed. Doctors Without Borders reports the killings reflect an alarming pattern.

"Jaber, 32, a veteran first responder with Lebanon's interior ministry, was killed along with his colleague Ahmad Noura, 45, by an Israeli drone on May 12 in Nabatieh, a city in southern Lebanon, as they tried to rescue a man wounded in another strike moments earlier. His death came just days before Ramal and Jaber's first wedding anniversary. The two men were the latest of over 100 first responders killed in Israeli airstrikes since the war between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah began on March 2."

"A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that began in April has not slowed Israeli attacks. Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using ambulances and medical facilities for military purposes, without providing evidence, claims Lebanon's health ministry denies. International law protects hospitals, rescue teams and ambulance crews. "But what we see now, no, it's not that," says Mona Boud Zeid, the director of Al Najdeh al-Shaabiyeh Hospital, which treats the wounded in southern Lebanon."

"From the hospital's location in Nabatieh, she can see the airstrikes. "It's like what we see now in Gaza. It's the same. ... Maybe our hospitals, our nurses, our doctors will go through the same." Gaza's health ministry says Israeli attacks killed more than 1,700 medical personnel and first responders during the war. According to the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders, which has personnel at the Nabatieh hospital, Jaber and Noura were killed after rushing to the scene of an earlier strike. A third medic with them was injured."

"The aid group called the killing of the rescue workers "part of an alarming pattern." Outside the hospital morgue on May 13, a dozen uniformed first responders kept a somber, silent vigil, waiting"

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