In a note, the Maronite cardinal condemned the use of transceiver devices “to kill indiscriminately” in the operation against Hezbollah. The toll, still provisional, is 37 dead and 2,931 wounded, some seriously. The leader of the Shiite movement, Nasrallah, affirmed that the northern front will remain open until the aggression in Gaza ends.
Beirut () – It is with “deep sorrow” that the Maronite Church has learned of – and experienced – the double Israeli aggression against Hezbollah and its human capital on 17 and 18 September, in what some commentators do not hesitate to identify as a form of “state terrorism”. The simultaneous explosions of pagers last Tuesday caused at least 12 deaths; the following day, a second wave of explosions, this time involving radio transmitters and walkie-talkies, left 25 victims, according to data provided by the Lebanese Ministry of Health. The total figure, although still provisional, is 37 dead and at least 2,931 wounded in the two days, some of whom are in serious condition.
In an official note released in these hours, the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Beshara Raï, strongly condemns what he calls “Israeli aggression” and above all the fact that radio transmitters were used “to kill indiscriminately.” The Cardinal also condemned the ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people, knowing full well that on this point Bkerké’s position is perfectly aligned with that of the Holy See, in favour of the two-state solution and a special status for Jerusalem.
There was great anticipation yesterday for the speech given on television in the afternoon by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, during which a terrifying double “explosion” occurred, caused by supersonic fighters of the Israeli Air Force, which flew at low altitude over the Lebanese capital while the speech was being broadcast. The Shiite leader acknowledged the “unprecedented” blow dealt by the Jewish State to the movement; at the same time, he promised Israel a “terrible” response, although without specifying or giving particular indications as to when, how and where this will happen. “On the contrary,” he said, “we must conceal our intentions.
In the same spirit, Nasrallah later announced the opening of an internal investigation into the explosions, thus demonstrating that he is aware of a possible infiltration into the party ranks. Some experts interviewed by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and the New York Times The US also raised the same hypothesis, while providing more details about the Hungarian front company that allegedly manufactured the explosive devices.
“You will not be able to bring the inhabitants of the north back home,” Hassan Nasrallah told the leaders of the Jewish state, in response to their decision to include among the objectives of the war in Gaza the return to their homes of approximately 100,000 Israelis displaced by the fighting that broke out on the border with Lebanon. “The Lebanese front with Israel will remain open until the aggression in Gaza ends,” insisted the Hezbollah leader, adding his condemnation of the Maronite patriarch regarding an aggression that targets thousands of people. An indiscriminate attack due to the way it was carried out, using radio devices detonated in public places – including pharmacies, hospitals, shops and family homes, to name just a few – that “indiscriminately” killed both soldiers and civilians.
Speaking to the French-speaking Lebanese daily The East – The Day, Nadim Houry, director of the Arab Reform Initiative think tank, said he was “shocked” by the “inability of Western public opinion to consider these attacks as terrorism”. “Just like the widespread use of drone strikes, this type of operation makes us all more vulnerable, blurring the line between military and civilian targets. Would we accept such indiscriminate attacks elsewhere?” He wondered yesterday evening, on a television programme, retired general Khalil Helou said that “the rules of engagement between Israel and Hezbollah have vanished after 11 months of conflict” and that “only Hezbollah seems to respect them today, more or less”. “It is only thanks to the control exercised so far by the Americans,” the military expert concluded, “that Israel has not carried out a large-scale operation against Lebanon.”
Humanity and emotionality
On a humanitarian level, the double attack provoked an exceptional outpouring of solidarity from Lebanese citizens of all faiths and ethnic and religious affiliations. In his speech, the Secretary General of Hezbollah referred to this wave of solidarity: “It seems that the blood donation that followed the Israeli aggression is the ‘largest’ in the history of Lebanon,” observed the Shiite leader. The widespread solidarity movement has also materialised in numerous regional medical missions, in which other countries also participated, and several hundred wounded have been transferred to hospitals in Syria, Iraq and Iran.
On the other hand, the Israeli war strategy has caused a general psychosis among the population regarding the use of mobile phones and even computers, fuelled by anonymous messages warning people to be careful with certain types of texts of dubious origin. “I used to put my mobile phone on the bedside table,” a woman named Rima told . After the attacks and explosions of the last few days, she continued, “I put it far away and on the floor, not even on the carpet, to avoid a fire in case of an explosion.” Following a directive from the Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority, airlines have also banned passengers leaving Beirut airport from carrying pagers and walkie-talkies, either on board planes or in their checked luggage, until further notice.
Complaint to the UN
On an official level, the head of Lebanese diplomacy, Abdallah Bou Habib, announced the submission of a note of protest to the United Nations Security Council. On the domestic political level, the attack and the subsequent wave of solidarity among the Lebanese have not erased the deep disagreement between Hezbollah and the other political blocs – representing Christians and Sunni Muslims – on the opportunity to open a front with Israel. In these circles, war is considered “useless and risky.” A position that is linked above all to the fact that the decision to declare it would be taken unilaterally by the pro-Tehran party and without any national or institutional consensus, responding only to the Iranian military doctrine of the “unity of the fronts”, which also includes Iraq and Yemen. However, former MP Farès Souhaid asks: does the Hezbollah leadership “have the right, as it seems, to sacrifice Lebanon for this unity?”, once again highlighting the conviction that Beirut is already “under Iranian occupation.”
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