dpa
Beirut
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has said the back-to-back blasts of electronic devices across Lebanon which are widely assumed to have been caused by Israel amount to “a declaration of war.”
In a much-anticipated televised speech on Thursday, Nasrallah said: “There is no doubt that we have been subjected to a major security and humanitarian blow, unprecedented in the history of our resistance and perhaps in the history of the conflict with the enemy.”
“Over two days, in one minute every day, the enemy wanted to kill 5,000 people in two minutes without caring about anything,” Nasrallah said.
“Our answer is, in the name of the martyrs and the wounded, that the Lebanon front will not stop until the aggression against Gaza stops, regardless of the sacrifices ... ,” he said.
The blasts that hit Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday were “a major terrorist operation, an act of genocide, and a massacre, and amounts to a declaration of war,” the leader of the Iranian-backed militia said.
As Nasrallah was speaking, Israeli warplanes broke through the sound barrier over the capital Beirut, with sounds like a bomb explosion causing panic.
According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, at least 37 people have been killed and some 3,000 injured across the country in the series of explosions that involved pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, the families of Hezbollah victims who were standing near the American University Hospital of Beirut looked weary, sad and depressed just thinking that their loved ones lost their sight, fingers or arms within just a few seconds.
“The situation among the wounded we have treated is catastrophic,” Bahaa Noureddine, chief ophthalmologist at the American University Hospital, said on Thursday.
Since Tuesday, Noureddine and his team has performed over 40 operations on injured people. He added that 25 operations are still pending.
“Most of the injured are suffering from shock and depression,” he said. The psychological effects are “very, very strong and serious.”
“The relatives are also in shock, too. They cannot believe that their family members have gone blind or lost an arm or fingers within a few seconds,” says Noureddine.
Most of the injured he treated were between the ages of 20 and 35.
“There were also some women,” he said.
Shock was also prevailing among non-Hezbollah members as well as the regular Lebanese population, who were already traumatized in 2020 when a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at Beirut port exploded killing more than 200 and injuring 6,000 others.
“I’m afraid to touch my cell phone,” said 30-year-old Amir from the port city of Tyre in southern Lebanon.
Amir is one of many Lebanese who now fear to walk on the street, and keep away from cars for fear that there is a device that might exploded.
Many of the victims are said to be Hezbollah members, but there were also civilians among them. According to the authorities, at least two children were killed. “The Lebanese population has become more and more vulnerable over the years, especially since 2020. This will add to their suffering and put them in a state of depression,” psychiatrist Elio Sassine told DPA.
Lebanon has been in a state of limbo for almost a year in which it has often been on the brink of going into open war with its neighbour Israel.
“We are exhausted,” said Nour, a student from the southern suburbs of Beirut.
“We haven’t had any peace for months,” she said.
