Two Academics Killed in Lebanon as Lebanese and Iranian Universities Come Under US-Israeli Attacks
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In Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon, as well as in the US-Israeli war against Iran, Lebanese and Iranian universities have been turned into military targets, not only endangering civilian lives and significantly disrupting educational activities in the region but also setting a very dangerous precedent for future military conflict.
Two academics at the Lebanese University in Beirut were killed by Israel on March 12 in a targeted drone attack on the main campus of the university located in the Hadath municipality of the country’s capital. The two professors killed were Hussein Bazzi, faculty director of the Faculty of Sciences, and Mortada Srour, professor of physics at the same faculty. Reporting by L’Orient Today indicated that the attack targeted the two professors specifically, as they were walking in the courtyard of the university. The Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Lebanese University condemned the attack, calling it a “war-crime” and a “blatant assault on the mission of science, the mind, and the collective memory of nations,” as reported by University World News. Colleagues said that the killing of Bazzi and Srour, as well as the shape and form of the attack, has “extinguished what remained of the sense of security” in Lebanese academia, which was already struggling under conditions of war and severe economic hardship.
The day following the attack, a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claimed responsibility for the attack, alleging that Srour was “a terrorist element in the Air Unit affiliated with Hezbollah” and “considered a prominent figure and a center of knowledge in the field of manufacturing combat means.” No reason was provided for the killing of Bazzi. The IDF statement signaled the potential of similar attacks in the future, claiming that “there are many other elements who, alongside their activities in Hezbollah as centers of knowledge in production fields, also work as lecturers in various Lebanese universities”.
This statement summarized the kind of reasoning that is at the root of what has, unfortunately, become a pattern of attacks on Iranian universities and other higher educational and research institutions in the war against Iran initiated by Israel and the US on February 28, 2026. Under international law, universities can only be considered legitimate military targets if they are being used for direct military purposes, such as for stationing military units or stockpiling military equipment. However, Israel’s justifications for targeting universities have been dangerously stretching that definition. The IDF has, so far, hit Imam Hossein University on March 7, allegedly “used for IRGC officer training”, the research center of the Iranian Space Agency on March 14 due to their development of military satellites, and Malek Ashtar University on March 21 on the basis of the university’s research on ballistic missiles and other military technologies, in collaboration with the Iranian Defense Ministry.
A professor of international law speaking to University World News said that given the depth and breadth of links between higher education and military research in today’s world, including in Israel and the US, turning universities into legitimate targets on this basis means that “no university is safe”.
This is exactly how Iran reacted to the bombing of the Isfahan University of Technology on March 28, which injured four staff members and significantly damaged infrastructure including the complete destruction of a building, announcing that it will start considering all US- and Israel-linked universities in the region as legitimate military targets.
Several universities in the region closed down their campuses following this threat. Campuses of the American University of Beirut, the Lebanese American University, New York University Abu Dhabi, and Northwestern University in Qatar were shut down. Other institutions, such as those affiliated with Georgetown University and Texas A&M University already had moved all classes online after February 28.
Despite its March 28 threat, Iran has not yet hit any universities in the Gulf region or Israel since February 28, 2026. The latest Iranian attack on a research institution was on June 15, 2025, targeting the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, which significantly damaged scientific equipment and labs.
Meanwhile Iranian universities continued to come under attack. A video shared by The Associated Press on March 29 showed a building belonging to the Iran University of Science and Technology was completely destroyed by air strikes. The most recent university to be hit by US-Israeli attacks was Sharif University in Tehran, destroying an information and communications technology building on April 6.
According to the Iranian Ministry of Education, since February 28, at least 312 students have been killed as a result of US and Israeli attacks and more than 207 were injured. The number of casualties and injuries among university students, faculty, and staff is unclear. Numbers provided by Iran’s Ministry of Science and Technology to Al Jazeera indicate that at least 30 universities in Iran have been attacked by Israel and the US so far.
These attacks place further strain on Iranian academia, which is already struggling under a government that is brutally repressive of student activism. A nationwide protest movement late last year saw at least 15 student protestors killed by security forces with many others arrested during police raids on university campuses. Female students protesting against hijab mandates and femicide are also regularly and violently repressed.
Endangered Scholars Worldwide (ESW) condemns the targeting of universities and other research institutions in Lebanon and Iran by Israel and the US. Under international law, military-linked research is not adequate grounds for the targeting of universities. ESW calls on Iran, Israel, and the US to avoid military attacks on universities, which not only put the lives of students, faculty, and staff at risk but also have major long lasting negative impacts on higher education and scientific inquiry in the region. We invite the global community to join our call.
