Paramedics pay the price of war in Lebanon

0:00Support for this podcast comes from Northwestern University's Online Master's in Public Policy and Administration, Preparing and Public Radio, stories up close where they're happening. It's Thursday, April 2nd. I'm Greg Dixon. Israel has invaded Lebanon as the war in Iran expands in the region. Israel says the move is in pursuit of Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters. Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel last month in support of Iran. Israel's invasion has caused a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, with more than a million people displaced and more than 1 ,300 killed in Israeli attacks. according to Lebanon's government.

1:02Among the dead are at least 53 paramedics. Human rights groups say some of those first responders were targeted. And PR's Lauren Freyer takes us to Beirut to examine that claim.

1:17Paramedics in bright red uniforms shuffle behind a coffin. The victim is one of their own. This is the funeral of a Lebanese Red Cross volunteer, Yusuf Asaf, killed by an Israeli airstrike while on a rescue mission in southern Lebanon.

1:39Alexei Neymei was his boss. We meet at a Red Cross control room in Beirut.

1:50He explains how when Red Cross ambulances rush to the scene of any attack, they send their coordinates to United Nations peacekeepers who then notify Israel. They followed that protocol on March 9th, when Asaf got out of his ambulance at the scene of an airstrike and was hit by a subsequent strike. Afterward, Neymey says he sent a message to Israel via the UN. As a complaint and a question, why? But says he never got a reply. No answer. The Israeli military told NPR it targeted a Hezbollah building that day in Majd el-Zun. near the coastal city of Tyre, and that first responders arrived at the scene so quickly, quote, between when the munitions were fired and the moment of impact, that they were hit, but were not intentionally targeted.

2:38It says it was unaware of the presence of Red Cross personnel and regrets any harm. Lebanese officials and human rights groups say, It all appears to be a continuing pattern. Ramzi Khais with Human Rights Watch says it's too soon to draw conclusions about recent attacks, but that Israel has intentionally targeted health workers in the past, in Gaza and in Lebanon. In 2024, he says Human Rights Watch documented... Three attacks that took place on a paramedic center in Beirut, one on an ambulance in southern Lebanon, another on a hospital, and we found that these attacks amount to apparent war crimes.

3:14War crimes, he says, because paramedics are protected under international law. The Israeli military told NPR it abides by the law, but revokes those protections when misuse occurs. It accuses Hezbollah of exploiting medical teams and facilities, transporting weapons and ambulances. Lebanon's health minister, Rakan Nasreddin, disputes that.

3:42These are nurses and doctors, he told reporters, transporting the wounded and sick and risking their own lives to do so. Human Rights Watch says in all of the attacks it investigated, it wasn't able to find any evidence of medical facilities used for military purposes. The majority of first responders killed have been with units run by Islamic political groups, including Hezbollah.

4:10Mohammed Farhat runs Beirut operations for Hezbollah's own ambulance service. Unlike the Red Cross, he does not notify Israel of his movements. We walk through the rubble of a recent Israeli airstrike. There are mangled cars and solar panels. The wreckage stretches a whole city block.

4:37Farhat recalls how he rushed here to try to save people, but then had to pause. Because of the threat of a so-called double-tap strike, He says Israel will often strike a Hezbollah operative, then wait for Hezbollah's own first responders to arrive on the scene and then hit them too. The Israeli military denies any double-tap policy, but he told us it does sometimes conduct an additional strike when the objective of an initial strike is not achieved. Farhat denies transporting weapons. He says he deserves protection regardless of political affiliation and has lost lots of colleagues. Who had to make split-second decisions, he says, when they hear an explosion and then a child crying.

5:26Back in the Red Cross control room, ambulance dispatcher George Ghaffery says this war's toll on first responders weighs on him. When he sends his colleagues out into harm's way, he stays on the line with them. Is your heart in your throat? Yes. And hopes it doesn't fall silent. Lauren Freyer, NPR News, at a Red Cross control room in southern Beirut.

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