Moustapha Gharib holding his camera. Photo taken from his Instagram account.
His biggest dream was to see his team, Shabeb Baalbeck, play in the first division. Mustafa Gharib had just achieved that dream. On Feb. 23, after a 1-0 victory against Riyadi Abbassiyeh, the club from Bekaa and Hermel secured their second-division championship and, with it, their first-ever promotion to Lebanon’s football elite.
Although Mustafa didn’t play a major role in the advancement as a regular starter, the attacking midfielder from Nabi Sheet, in the Bekaa, had long worn the captain’s armband. More experienced than his teammates, Mustafa had played for other first-division teams, including Sagesse, and was planning to end his playing career on a high note.
But less than three weeks after celebrating this grand success, he was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Like every evening, especially since the season had ended, the Shabeb team planned to meet in a lounge known as aaedeh, a room with cushions laid directly on the floor. The club had set up this space a few months earlier on the top floor of a building in Ansar, on the outskirts of Baalbeck.
"It was a private place the club had created so that the players could hang out, chat, play cards or PlayStation, and watch Champions League matches until the early morning," explains Hassan Lakkis, director of public relations for the club. "There was nothing else in the building, aside from medical equipment stored on the ground floor, which belonged to the Dar al-Amar hospital, whose director is the former president of the Baalbeck club."
It was Monday, March 11, 2024, and at around 10:30 p.m., Israeli aircraft flew over the Bekaa, as they had been doing for months amid the ongoing cross-border fighting between Hezbollah and Israel that began in October 2023. Alarmed by the persistent sound of a drone circling nearby, Mustafa went up alone to the building’s roof to get a closer look. "That’s when they struck," recalls Mahmoud Aalem, the club president's son, who was there in the building too.
Aalem and six others were injured by a second missile that hit a neighboring building, but Mustafa succumbed to his injuries before reaching the hospital. "Had the strike happened a few minutes later, three-quarters of the team would have been there," the team manager, Ali Hassen, said the next day. "Most of them were already on their way to join the gathering."
Moustapha Gharib lacing up his cleats. Photo provided to OLJ by his relatives.
As usual, the Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli army claimed on X that the target was "a center used by Hezbollah to prepare airstrikes. "
"Why would we have set up this lounge for our players if we weren't sure it was a civilian building?" the club's public relations director says.
'A true role model for our youth'
Born on July 21, 1985, Mustafa Gharib, at 38 years old, became another name on the list of nearly 150 civilians killed by the Israeli army since Oct. 8, 2023. This death toll from Israel's extensive bombing campaigns has risen exponentially since Israel’s escalation in late September, now standing at almost 2,000 people, according to the latest estimates from the Ministry of Health.
"It's a huge loss for us," says Lakkis. "He was a team leader who could rally an entire locker room. Everyone appreciated him. He wasn’t affiliated with any political party and had no problems with anyone. I wouldn't say he was perfect, but he was a real role model for our youth. That’s why we trusted him with coaching one of our youth teams."
On and off the field, this Real Madrid fan led a disciplined and full life, says a testimony from his friends, posted on Facebook. They describe him as leading a healthy lifestyle, mindful of the food he ate. He didn't smoke and he didn't do drugs. And, since football alone wasn’t enough to make ends meet, Mustafa took on small jobs that earned him a few hundred dollars. According to Lakkis, he usually spend his savings on clothes, sports gear, and filming equipment.
On both sides of the camera
Alongside football, Mustafa’s other passion was film, working both in front of and behind the camera. In 2019, he founded a production agency called "Heliopolis Pictures" with some friends. Gifted with "a good eye for photography," he worked on several international projects, including reports in Iraq and Italy, where he contributed to a music video for the Italian rock band Kabila, titled "Sun in the Rain."
This even earned him a small mention in the local press in Arezzo, Tuscany, following the announcement of his death.
Moustapha Gharib during a photo shoot with Heliopolis Pictures. Photo provided to OLJ by KMoustapha’s relatives.
Mustafa was single when he was killed. He'd never been married or engaged, though a close friend hinted at there being a few love stories in his past. A handsome man, he had also stepped in front of the camera after his acting potential was discovered by accident while working on a scene for which he was part of the technical crew. After impressing the director, he was given a full role. He went on to star in short films and commercials, including one for the Lebanese home appliances brand Ghandour Electric, among others.
"When his coffin arrived at the house, I didn’t want to see his body," his mother said in a video interview published by a local media outlet shortly after his death. "I wanted them to put the most beautiful picture of him above his grave so that he remains handsome. That’s the image I want to keep of him in my mind."
