Lebanon's Mikati demands emergency meeting with ambassadors after Israeli strike on civil defense personnel

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Saturday demanded an urgent meeting next week with Western ambassadors and representatives of international organizations in Lebanon, after an Israeli attack on civil defense personnel.

Three paramedics were killed and two others were injured in the strike earlier that targeted a civil defense fire truck in southern Lebanon.

Mikati condemned "the new Israeli aggression that targeted Civil Defense personnel while they were performing their duty to extinguish fires caused by the enemy's airstrikes on the southern town of Feroun."

“This new aggression against Lebanon constitutes a blatant violation of international laws and represents a flagrant attack on humanitarian values,” he said in a statement. “Based on the principle that the Israeli enemy disregards international laws and norms, I have called for an urgent meeting with Western ambassadors and representatives of international organizations at the government palace on Monday.”

Mikati clarified that the aim of the meeting is “to hold everyone accountable for stopping the ongoing Israeli aggression against Lebanon and to pressure the Israeli enemy, which ignores any law and continues to fuel its crimes against Lebanon and the Lebanese people.”

Tensions have spiked along Lebanon's border with Israel amid cross-border attacks between the Lebanese resistance group, Hezbollah, and Israeli forces as Tel Aviv presses ahead with a brutal onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 40,900 victims since Oct. 7 following an attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.