This
observer was sitting with my friend Zuhair on my balcony in south Beirut, when
at 6:20 pm on 8/15/13 erupted a huge blast that seemed to shake our 12 story
concrete building even more so than the one just down the street did on July
9. We both leaned over the railing at the same time. I commented that I
did not see any smoke, while he spoke only two words: "Bir Abed."
He meant, as it turned out, that rather than two blocks east and one north of our building's entrance, as was the case
with the last blast, this one was three blocks east and three south. Though on
the same road as the July bombing, today's attack was about two hundred yards
from the Hezbollah Media Relations office, run by my friend Dr. Ibrahim
Mousawi, located at the end of our street.
Zuhair and I parted without speaking, and thanks to my motorbike being known to
many of the security guys, who within minutes of the blast were moving traffic
barriers into place, I arrived at the scene in short order. Screams, wails,
shouting, and the smell of scorched bodies filled the evening air, as massive
flames from burning cars and destroyed shop fronts swept skyward. A dense,
black smoke plumed over the area, visible for miles.
For more than an hour I stood, just inside a women's shoe store whose front had
been blown off though sometimes venturing a few steps in either direction along
the sidewalk, watching, grimacing, yet also wanting to stay out of the way, as
emergency vehicles arrived. At the same time thousands, not hundreds, of
Hezbollah security and supporters appeared out of nowhere, many of them armed, beginning
to direct fire trucks and ambulances, lending assistance to wounded neighbors. Shouting
and emotions could be heard in all directions--grown men crying, women
praying--though before long my attention was drawn to a group of young men
beating their chests in defiance, chanting "Haidar, Haidar, Haidar." It is the Shia
ritual meant to identify with the events of Karba in the year 680, when Hussein
bin Ali, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) sacrificed himself in defense
of Islam.
A particularly bizarre incident, for this observer, occurred when a friend
called and asked where I was and if I was ok. I replied, "I am at the scene
near Mahfouz Stores in Ruwais, next to a butcher shop and down the block from
Banque Libano-Franà §aise and Harkous Chicken Restaurant." She later told me
those were my exact words.
When we hung up the phone, I glanced again to my right and did a double take--at
what appeared to be a sheep carcass, partly carved by a butcher, or maybe half
a hanging cow. Both are a common sight in this part of the world. Moments
passed; I glanced again at the suspended slab, no more than five feet away,
thinking to myself that the explosive device must have contained pellets, for
the animal's flesh, which had visibly darkened in color since I had arrived half
an hour earlier, seemed riddled and partly shredded. Surrounded by chaos and disembarking
EMS vehicles, I didn't pay much attention to it, though not much later a
Hezbollah security/civil defense worker came and stood next to me. I had seen
him around the neighborhood before, and though I always keep an ID at ready, he
did not ask me for one.
"Animal! Dog!" he exclaimed in disgust as he glared at the dangling carcass and
spit.
"Aiwa, maybe a sheep or cow, but surely not a dog," this observer replied obtusely.
He looked at me quizzically and proffered, "You no understand. This is the dog
who did the operation!"
In other words, it was not a sheep but the suicide bomber I had been standing
next to.
The man appears to have been the driver of a white van that neighbors say they
saw driving back and forth looking for a parking space just before the blast. Glancing
anew at the hanging carcass, I saw what did
look like part of a leg, and perchance half an arm, but the mass of its flesh
was in the middle and included what resembled a stomach and organs.
At this point it dawned on me--ever so slowly, as many things do these days--we
were not even in front of a butcher shop! Instead, we stood next to a shop
selling pink and gold handbags, strewn now over the sidewalk, located next to
the shoe store. And there was no butcher's hook to be seen. Rather, the body
had been blown across the intersection and lodged between two thick workmen's
planks, perhaps 12 feet off the ground, on rusty, thick, metal scaffolding.
I could not see if there was a head attached, and did not want to appear nosy,
but something was keeping the body hanging just above us, between the two planks.
Soon three other guys arrived and, presumably out of Islamic respect for the
dead, two of them climbed the scaffolding, at which point they tore some
plastic strips off a banner advertising a sale, draping it over the remains. I
am not sure how the security guys were so certain it was the remains of the bomber
rather than one of the so-far 27 presumed killed, but somehow they were.
Additionally, as of press time, more than 340 are reported wounded, while a
father and three of his children remain unaccounted for. The victims were
rushed to Hezbollah's Rassoul Hospital, on Airport Road, and to Bahman
Hospital, next to where I live, run by the Sayed Mohamad Hussein Fadallah
charity; still others were taken to Al Bourj and Sahel hospitals in our
neighborhood. The explosion also has left some 350 families displaced.
Almost predictably, some local politicians are blaming Israel, whose government
has denied any involvement. Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Parliament Speaker
Nabih Berri both are accusing Israel, in almost knee-jerk fashion. President
Suleiman said the Dahiyeh blast "bears the hallmark of terrorism and Israel," adding
that "all Lebanese must show solidarity." Their accusations are probably
based not on hard evidence but an admirable attempt to tamp down Sunni-Shia
speculations and suspicions.
However, analyst and Hezbollah expert Waddah Charara, whose views this observer
particularly values, said Hezbollah's arch-enemy Israel could have been behind
this latest car-bombing. "I think the attack is part of a war being waged
between Israel and the Shiite movement--that recently brought on the Israeli
soldiers' incursion into Lebanese territory," he told the media.
Hezbollah had not taken a clear position as of press time, but SG Hassan
Nasrallah is scheduled to speak tonight and give this thoughts.
Fadallah MP, Dr. Ali Fayed, whom I consider a valued friend and who is one of
those within Hezbollah working to enact the elementary right to work and to own
a home for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, appeared last night on NBN TV.
Fayed called the bombing a "very dangerous act," but highlighted that Hezbollah
and its supporters will not be dragged into strife. He also said that regardless
of who did the bombing, and whether or not "it's Israel or terrorist
organizations" behind the attack, the Lebanese must unite.
There are plenty of other suspects--both here in Lebanon, as well as amongst
militant groups inside Syria, who have moved elements into Beirut. A video, uploaded
hours after the blast, shows residents of the rebel-held city of Raqqa, the
only provincial capital in Syria outside regime control, celebrating the
devastating car-bomb attack while offering sweets to passers-by and holding a
banner reading: "Distributing sweets on the occasion of the explosion in
Beirut's Dahiyeh."
One of the more than two hundred active militias in Syria, which calls itself
the Company of Aisha Umm al-Muminin (named for the Prophet Mohammed's favorite
wife) is additionally claiming responsibility, while several other Syrian rebel
groups, some with members now in Lebanon, have issued threats against Hezbollah
and vowed to target it.
Analysis of the increased number of security cameras in our neighborhood may
reveal more clues, plus it is rumored that one suspect was arrested at the
scene and is being interrogated. Revisiting the area this morning at 3 a.m.,
this observer found it cordoned off, floodlit, and with numerous investigators
working the scene.
Meanwhile, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati has called for a national day
of mourning on 8/16/13.
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