Paramedic Ali Abbas Najdi’s Sister Remembers the Day He Was Killed
Ali Abbas Najdi was more than a familiar face to his family and the people of Srifa. He was the smile that never seemed to fade and the hand always extended towards anyone who needed help.
On 26 May 2026, an Israeli airstrike hit a civil-defence and ambulance centre belonging to the Islamic Risala Scout Association in Srifa, southern Lebanon. According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, the strike killed Najdi and wounded two other paramedics.
The association said Ali was killed while carrying out his humanitarian duty in his hometown.
In a voice message shared with me, Ali’s sister spoke with pride and profound grief about a brother whose absence has devastated his family, friends and community.
The guardian of Srifa
“Whenever people returned to the village during the war, Ali would be standing at the first crossroads, waiting for everyone from Srifa,” his sister recalled.
“Everyone in Srifa can testify to who Ali Abbas was. He was a son to every home.”
His dedication, she said, extended far beyond his hometown.
“He did not only help his own village. He was at the service of the entire South.”
She remembers his kindness and a distinctive laugh that seemed to illuminate his eyes—qualities his family and friends could never forget.
“Ali gave us immense dignity,” she said. “But at the same time, his departure broke us. No one can ever fill the void he left in our lives.”
A mother’s premonition
Ali’s sister also recalled an unsettling moment approximately two hours before the strike.
Their mother entered her daughter’s room feeling deeply anxious.
“I do not feel at peace today,” she told her. “Something bad is going to happen.”
Less than two hours later, the sound of an airstrike shook Srifa. News began to spread that the paramedic centre had been hit.
At first, people around the family tried to soften the news, telling them that Ali had only been wounded. His mother did not believe them.
“My heart has been torn from its place,” she told her daughters through tears. “Ali is not wounded. Ali has been martyred.”
The hardest moment of a lifetime
For Ali’s sister, that day remains the hardest and most painful of her life.
Ali was “everything,” she said—not only to his parents and siblings, but also to his colleagues, friends and the people he served.
He died wearing the uniform through which he had spent his life helping others.
The Israeli military said it was conducting widespread strikes against Hezbollah sites across southern Lebanon at the time. No specific public explanation for the strike on the paramedic centre was available at the time of writing.
Ali Abbas Najdi left behind a legacy of service that continues to echo through Srifa. At the village crossroads where residents once found him waiting for them, they now remember the smile of a paramedic who made an entire community feel protected.
This article is based on Alex Jørgensen’s personal interview with Ali Abbas Najdi’s sister. Her statements were translated from Arabic and lightly edited for clarity. Details of the strike were independently supported by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health and contemporary reports by Prensa Latina and Libnanews.