Beirut, Nov 15 (IANS): At least 12 paramedics from civil defence teams were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their centre in Duris, a village in Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, media reported.

According to Lebanese news website Elnashra, Baalbek Governor Bachir Khodor said on Thursday that the bodies of 12 civil defence members were recovered from under the rubble, and the debris removal process is still ongoing.

He added that around 20 paramedics were at the centre during the airstrike, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Contact is lost with the head of the regional civil defence centre in Baalbek, Bilal Raad," he was quoted as saying.

Since September 23, the Israeli military has intensified airstrikes on Lebanon in an escalation of conflict with Hezbollah. Israel also launched a ground operation across its northern border into Lebanon in early October.

As of Thursday, the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon since the beginning of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on October 8, 2023, has reached 3,386, while injuries went up to 14,417.