Shockwaves as hospitals and medics targeted in brutal Iran war fallout

The US-Israeli war on Iran and the resulting regional conflict have unleashed a wave of deadly attacks on healthcare workers and infrastructure across the Middle East, from paramedics in southern Lebanon to medical facilities and ambulances in Tehran.

The international humanitarian group Save the Children estimated on Tuesday that, since the US and Israel started bombing Iran on February 28, the Middle East has seen an average of one attack on healthcare every six hours. Overall, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded at least 120 attacks on healthcare since the start of the Iran war—86 in Lebanon, 28 in Iran, and six in Israel.

The head of the WHO said nine paramedics were killed in five separate Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon this past weekend.

“We cannot accept a world where those who save lives are targeted,” Nora Ingdal, country director at Save the Children Lebanon, said Tuesday. “Governments have long championed international humanitarian law that protects aid and health workers, and now is the time to act to prevent continued harm in Lebanon and across the wider region.”

Iranian officials have said that dozens of hospitals and other healthcare facilities are among the tens of thousands of civilian buildings damaged or destroyed by US-Israeli bombing over the past month, along with dozens of ambulances. Iran’s Emergency Medical Services Organization said Tuesday that at least 24 of the nation’s healthcare workers have been killed by US-Israeli attacks since late February.

In southern Lebanon, the Israeli assault has been devastating for the country’s healthcare system and workers. According to Save the Children, at least 55 of the country’s health facilities have been forced to close due to airstrikes and forced displacement orders from the Israeli government.

MedGlobal said Wednesday that Lebanon’s “already fragile health system is buckling under relentless pressure” of “systematic and severe” attacks, which the group emphasized are violations of international law.

“Attacks on healthcare workers are not collateral damage. They are alarming, unacceptable violations of international law,” said Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president and co-founder of MedGlobal. “The international community cannot remain silent while Lebanon’s health system is targeted and dismantled—just at the moment when it is needed more than ever to save lives and help the vast numbers of internally displaced people.”