feature | "i hope peace will come soon" - lebanese people under the shadow of the communication equipment explosion
2024-09-22
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beirut, september 21 (xinhua) -- "i hope peace will come soon" -- lebanese people under the shadow of the communication equipment explosion
xinhua news agency reporter cheng shuaipeng and xie hao
in front of the american university of beirut medical center building, one of lebanon's largest hospitals, 32-year-old lebanese resident hilal asiri moved forward in the queue, waiting to visit his cousin who was injured in the pager explosion.
on september 17 and 18, a series of explosions of communication equipment occurred in lebanon, killing 37 people and injuring nearly 3,000 people. on the 20th, reporters saw dozens of relatives of the injured queuing in front of the american university of beirut medical center, one of the largest hospitals in lebanon, waiting to enter the hospital to visit. the hospital security personnel tried their best to maintain order at the scene, and soldiers with live ammunition stood guard not far away.
"my cousin is a nurse and his hand was injured by a pager explosion," asiri said as he stepped forward. "i hope he recovers soon... i hope the current conflict can be resolved soon."
since the outbreak of a new round of israeli-palestinian conflict on october 7 last year, hezbollah in lebanon has launched attacks on northern israel and the israeli-occupied golan heights from time to time, and the israeli army has retaliated with air strikes and artillery shelling of southern lebanon. after the explosion of lebanese communications equipment, the israeli-palestinian conflict has reached a new crossroads.
in a televised speech on the 19th, hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah said that israel's reckless simultaneous detonation of a large number of paging and intercom equipment in lebanon "violated all rules, red lines and laws... this is a major aggression against the lebanese state, people, resistance movement, sovereignty and security. it can be called a war crime or a declaration of war." he said that israel will be "severely held accountable and fairly punished" for this.
while nasrallah was speaking, suspected israeli fighter jets flew over the lebanese capital beirut, creating sonic booms, and several loud noises could be heard in beirut.
abu abdul, who sells electronic devices in the hamra district, was still frightened when talking about his experience a few days ago on the 20th: "on the day the pager exploded, ambulances passed by my door one after another." he was also worried that the mobile phones, tablets and electronic watches sold in the store would also explode.
when talking about the impact of the current situation on his business, abu abdul looked helpless. he showed the account book to the reporter and said that the daily turnover in the past four months was only a few dozen dollars, which was not enough to pay the monthly rent and electricity bills.
hassan rafa, an online car-hailing driver, also directly felt the impact of the tense situation on his life. "when the sonic boom occurred on the 19th, i was parking my car to check my orders. i jumped out of my seat when i heard the loud noise."
rafa said that the number of online ride-hailing orders has dropped sharply since the 17th, and he can only receive four or five orders a day. "i don't like war, and i hope peace will come soon."
source: xinhuanet
