SIDON — Two veteran Lebanese Civil Defense first responders, Hussein Jaber, 32, and Ahmad Noura, 45, were killed by an Israeli drone strike on May 12, 2026, in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, while attempting to rescue a man wounded in an earlier strike. A third medic accompanying them was injured in the attack.

Jaber and Noura were veteran first responders with Lebanon's interior ministry. Doctors Without Borders, which has personnel at the Nabatieh hospital, said the two were killed after rushing to the scene of the earlier strike.

On May 13, uniformed first responders kept a silent vigil outside the hospital morgue in Nabatieh, waiting to lift the bodies into an ambulance while colleagues and hospital workers sobbed. The bodies were wrapped in white shrouds, covered with flowers and transferred from Nabatieh to a burial site in Haret Saida near Sidon. The burials at Haret Saida are temporary because it is impossible to bury Jaber and Noura in their own villages due to ongoing attacks.

"They were never just colleagues. We have been together for more than 20 years. No words can describe what we feel," said Abdallah Hallal, a search-and-rescue team leader who has spent more than 20 years responding to emergencies and pulling survivors from rubble. Jaber's death occurred days before his and Nareej Ramal's first wedding anniversary.

The war between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon began on March 2, 2026. Nearly 3,000 people have been killed and nearly 1 million people have been displaced since the conflict began. A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon began in April 2026, and Israeli attacks have continued since then, with more than 380 people killed in southern Lebanon since the truce took effect. Over 100 first responders have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since the war began.