An Israeli airstrike killed at least 12 Lebanese rescue workers on Thursday inside a civil defense center in the eastern city of Baalbek, according to health and rescue officials, hours after state media in Syria said Israeli strikes in and around the capital killed at least 15 people.

An AP journalist at the scene in Mazzeh said a five-story building was damaged by a missile that hit the basement.

Lebanon said at least 12 people were killed Thursday in an Israeli strike targeting the main civil defence facility in the eastern Baalbek area, with the rescuers counting eight members among the dead.