A woman walks past shops closed for business on a Beirut street, Sept. 18, 2024. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
The day after the simultaneous detonation of thousands of Hezbollah pagers across Lebanon, the country awoke in a state of suspense and unease. The operation, widely attributed to Israel — its prime minister only days prior calling for a "radical change" in its front with Hezbollah — killed at least 12 people, eight of them party members, two of them healthcare workers, and two of them children. Hezbollah has declared Israel will receive a "just punishment," and so, yet again, the waiting begins.
In Beirut
"At first, I thought it was a fight," says Mohammad, a 30-year-old from Bint Jbeil. "The bangs we heard were not typical explosions, but a huge noise, different from the one that occurred during the assassination of Fouad Shukur."
Sarah Farhat, who was at a healthcare center in the southern Beirut suburb neighborhood of Haret Hreik at the time of the detonations, said that she and the people she was with thought it was just fireworks. "But when I went out into the street, I saw pools of blood everywhere, fingers and parts of hands on the ground. I realized it was an attack on a completely different scale."
Mohammad saw much of the same thing. "I saw the ends of people's fingers, torn clothing and organs on the ground," he recalls, his voice sounding distant. It's not just a huge hacking operation, he argues, it's also a "terrorist" operation. "Sure, the people targeted are part of an armed organization, but they were in civilian clothes!"
"This is unprecedented," Farhat says. "The people targeted are not even border fighters. They were among us!" The 30-year-old from the Jezzine district is unsure whether Hezbollah will retaliate in full force, or restrain itself so as to avoid "worsening the situation."
"Every time we think we've seen the worst, Israel surprises us and crosses all limits," she says, but Hezbollah, on the other hand, "is imposing limits on itself in this war," she argues.
"I just want it to stop," Mohammad says, but he adds that, of course, "we" will endorse Hezbollah's response, "whatever it is."
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah is due to give a speech on Thursday, in light of the latest events. It's unknown whether he will address the party's plans for retaliation. Hezbollah's retaliatory strike against Israel for the assassination of Shukur came almost one month following the Israeli strike that killed him.
In southern Lebanon
"What happened on Tuesday left a deep wound," says Iqbal, the owner of a Nabatieh supermarket. "It was a shock, a catastrophe... We expected anything but this."
"We still haven't digested what happened, but we have to pull ourselves together," she says. Hezbollah's response much be proportional, she argues, "if not greater — the Resistance must fight back."
Foutoun, 65, witnessed what she calls "a crazy scene" in Nabatieh on Tuesday. She describes ambulances speeding through the streets, sirens blaring, non-stop from the afternoon into the evening. "We were scared but had to pull ourselves together to help our neighbors and relatives," she recounts. "Israel's operation is unimaginable. Hezbollah's response must be strong."
The same is echoed by Zeinab, who lives in Sour. "What happened was not a targeting of individuals or a party, but an attack on all of Lebanon," she says emphatically. Zeinab and various people she knows donated blood to local hospitals that were overwhelmed with the influx of patients suffering injuries of various degrees of severity.
Sour is a large city around 10 kilometers from the border with Israel, but on Wednesday morning, daily happenings carried on seemingly unaffected by both proximity and Israel's unprecedented breach of Lebanese security. Only schools were closed, in accordance with the Ministry of Education's decision of the previous day — shops and banks remained open.
Still, Zeinab says she sensed an anger and a desire for revenge among her neighbors, even those not affiliated with Hezbollah. "We expected every scenario except for what actually happened," she says. "What Israel has done is out of the ordinary. We've made the decision to all be supporters of the Resistance and we're waiting for the response that must be the size of the country."
Several villages in southern Lebanon are preparing the funeral ceremonies for the victims of the attack.
In the Bekaa
The mood in various villages in the Bekaa is subdued, according to residents. "My husband, who was driving on the road to the airport, thought it was sniper fire when he heard the explosions," says the wife of a man wounded in the explosions. "His friend who was with him had a blackened face. He hadn't realized that his pager had exploded."
Reporting contributed by Mountasser Abdallah in southern Lebanon, Sarah Abdallah in the Bekaa, and Raphaël Abdelnour in Beirut.