The victim's mother, sitting in her grocery store, the day after the armed robbery. (Credit: Claude Assaf)
“We live in fear in Achrafieh!” said Nadine* standing in 50-year-old Walid Ibrahim’s grocery store. Ibrahim is still in the hospital with serious injuries after two armed robbers broke into his shop on the night of April 19.
This reaction speaks volumes about the climate of panic heightened by recurring security incidents among the neighborhood’s residents in recent weeks.
At 12:15 a.m. on Saturday, two hooded bikers burst into the establishment on Rue Georges Tabet, 100 meters from Rizk Hospital. They jostled a customer at the cash register and seized the money he had at gunpoint.
A surveillance video posted on social media showed the two robbers attacking Walid Ibrahim, who pulled out his revolver. The robbers took off and Ibrahim followed them with a gun in his hand. He was then wounded, as the video depicted him with his hand on his stomach.
Stable condition
L’Orient-Le Jour learned that Ibrahim managed to walk to Rizk Hospital’s emergency room. He immediately underwent several hours of surgery on his liver, colon and pancreas, which had been pierced by the bullet that hit him. The bullet “was lodged in the kidney,” said Sami Rizk, the hospital’s executive director. Rizk added that the victim was placed in an induced coma for almost 24 hours. “Since he is no longer intubated, his condition is stable,” he said, “he is still in the intensive care unit.”
The criminals were still at large on Monday and the Lebanese Army’s intelligence services and the Internal Security Forces (ISF) are working hard to identify them, a security source told L’Orient-Le Jour. The results of the investigation “will not be long in coming,” the source added.
Self-security?
“The law enforcement agencies need to be more active, given the growing number of security incidents in the area,” said Rizk.
“As part of a private initiative carried out with Rebirth Beirut, we lit up the streets adjacent to the hospital,” he said. “Other hospitals took the same step,” he added. “Our efforts do not, however, replace the need for around-the-clock patrols,” he said. “Are the citizens supposed to be in charge of their own security?” he asked, referring to the dangerous general situation.
Marie and Leila, Ibrahim’s mother and sister, reopened the store the day after the attack. However, they are not at ease. “When my mother opened the store in 1964, the security situation back then allowed us to remain open around the clock. For the past few years, we’ve only stayed up until midnight. From now on, we’ll close before 9 p.m.,” said Leila on Monday morning, as the residents came in to check on Ibrahim’s health condition.
“The security forces are very scarce,” said Zeina, a customer. She attributed this shortcoming to “insufficient salaries and a lack of gasoline for their patrols.”
“As long as there is no state, everyone does as they please,” said Samir*. He denounced “the incalculable number of unregistered motorcycles.” “If the parties concerned checked for violations, there wouldn’t be so much insecurity,” he said.
Two other residents, Youmna and Hala, were chatting in the street. “I was telling her that a few meters away, a nurse had recently been robbed twice, a few days apart, by bikers who had snatched her bag the first time and her cell phone the second,” said Youmna.
“From now on, I only carry photocopies of my identity papers and very little money in my bag,” said Hala, who finishes the private lessons she gives to schoolchildren late in the evening.
In November 2022, Achrafieh 2020 launched the Neighborhood Watch initiative to calm the neighborhood’s inhabitants. 120 young people were recruited from former ISF members and ex-soldiers to monitor and call the police in the event of an incident. A fund-raising campaign financed the project.
Nadim Gemayel told L’Orient-Le Jour that the MP for Beirut and sponsor of Achrafieh 202, said Neighborhood Watch ceased its activities a few months ago “due to a lack of funds.”
*First names have been changed.
This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour. Translated by Joelle El Khoury.