Lebanese surgeon expresses faith in country after deadly pager blasts

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Lebanese surgeon expresses faith in country after deadly pager blasts

2024-09-21 22:34 Last Updated At：09-22 00:27

A Lebanese eye doctor is tirelessly treating patients injured by deadly communication devices explosions which hit the country this week.

The death toll in three waves of explosions targeting pagers, handheld radios and other communication devices across Lebanon has risen to 70, with more than 3,000 others wounded, the Lebanese Health Ministry said Saturday.

Dr. Elias Jarade and many doctors like him have been working frantically to treat the wounded in the capital Beirut over the past few days. "Most of the injuries were in the eye and the face around the eye. And yes, as eye (surgeons) we're under enormous pressure to meet the need and we're still doing our best. It's more than 48 hours, so it's practically nonstop work. And we have to say we have to ignore the pain, we have to ignore the fatigue feeling and we have to be dedicated," Dr. Jarade told the China Global Television Network (CGTN).

The doctor said the most traumatic thing these days is witnessing a series of major and massive events targeting Lebanon and knowing that "everything probably would be determined from this moment."

"As a doctor, somehow you are trained to disassociate yourself from this compassion with the patient. But it fails many times when you see your young people coming to you. This is the future of your country. Perhaps your kids, your neighbor, your parents, you see them. It's very hard to disassociate yourself. And when you see the parents as well, and as I said and I would say it again, they were part of my Lebanon, my dream. And taking care of them, I am reconstructing, rebuilding my country. Those are the future of my country; those are the people I want to hug. And I want to give them all my best, everything I can," Jarade said.

The doctor said he volunteered to come to Beirut and help the wounded here. He believes the Lebanese people can survive this crisis. "We have no choice but to remain together, no choice but to withstand this crisis together, no choice but to share the same blood, the same future, the same soul. That's who we are and who [we] will remain," he said.

Lebanon's Hezbollah group has attributed the mass explosions to Israel, calling it "a declaration of war" and has vowed to retaliate.

US behind Lebanon wireless device blasts: expert

2024-09-21 22:58 Last Updated At：23:37

The United States is behind the explosions of wireless communication devices across Lebanon as "it's hard for Israel to do it by itself," a Lebanese political and military strategic analyst said Friday.

General Georges Saghir, also a former brigadier general in the Lebanese Army, shared his view on this series of attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 30 people, including children, and injuring about 3,000. He said Israel has been helped by the United States to do that.

The Lebanese government and Iran-backed Hezbollah blamed Israel for the deadly blasts of pagers and walkie-talkie devices, but Israel has not commented directly on the explosions.

"This is the manipulation of an electromagnetic spectrum. It's very advanced, very technological. And it's hard for Israel to do it by itself. The technique is possessed only by very advanced (countries) like the United States. Israel, I think, it has been helped by the United States," Saghir said.

The expert said such a cyber attack is less costly and risky than an attack on Lebanon.

"If you take your own mobile, it's a lithium battery and we have heard of so many accidents, incidents happening. When the battery was so warm and after this heat, there was an explosion. So it's the same thing, but it's like a beam projected on the area where people have a lithium battery on their mobile or on their pagers. And they manipulate the frequency until they hit it, and then it explodes. The cyber attack, they use it now because it is less, by cost, than can do to people," he said.

Tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border have intensified since Oct 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel responded with artillery fire into southeastern Lebanon. The conflict has since resulted in significant casualties on both sides.