reporter witnessed: israeli fighter planes flew overhead!
2024-09-25
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on september 17 and 18, a series of communications equipment explosions occurred in lebanon, causing nearly 3,000 deaths and injuries; on the afternoon of the 20th, the southern suburbs of the lebanese capital beirut were attacked, and the number of casualties continued to grow.
cheng shuaipeng, a reporter from the middle east branch of xinhua news agency, went to beirut to provide reinforcement and report. at the scene, he saw the devastated ruins and heard the terrifying sonic boom.
cheng shuaipeng contributed to the "i'm on the scene" column of the china journalists association, sharing his experiences and thoughts.
i was at the scene丨reporter witnessed it with his own eyes: israeli fighter planes flew overhead!
on september 17 and 18, a series of explosions of communication equipment occurred in lebanon, causing nearly 3,000 deaths and injuries. the sudden escalation of the conflict that has lasted for nearly a year means that the relationship between lebanon and israel has reached a new crossroads.
on the 19th, i was commissioned by the xinhua news agency's middle east branch to set out from damascus, the capital of syria, to beirut to provide reinforcement reporting.
(one)
damascus is more than 100 kilometers away from beirut. it took me about three hours to reach my destination, including the time for entry and exit. in lebanon, the situation did not seem as tense as i imagined, and road traffic was still normal and orderly. in the town of shtura in bekaa province, many people were still shopping and eating in the supermarket.
anti-war advertisements are constantly seen on both sides of the highway. the sentence "enough, we are tired - lebanon does not want war" accompanied by photos of people standing next to the ruins is impressive.
arriving at the bureau, the intense work began immediately. hezbollah leader nasrallah was going to give a televised speech on the explosion of communications equipment, which attracted widespread attention from lebanese and foreign media and local people. my upstairs neighbor, who was acquainted with me, said to me on his mobile phone: "the situation is very bad. nasrallah will give a speech at five o'clock, and everyone is waiting to watch it."
i never thought that the atmosphere of the battlefield would be so intense so quickly. during nasrallah's speech, israeli fighter jets flew over beirut to intimidate the city. the fighter jets broke the sound barrier and created sonic booms. four loud noises came one after another, and the window two meters behind me was shaking.
i was so shocked that my hands were shaking as i was typing and my legs were starting to feel weak.
in fact, this is not my first time reporting from the battlefield. from 2017 to 2019, i worked in iraq. during the battle to retake mosul, my colleagues and i went to the front line of the fighting more than a dozen times to interview. at the most dangerous time, the shells were only separated from us by a wall. since the end of last year, i have been working in syria. israel has launched air strikes on damascus from time to time, and the sound of explosions is endless.
even so, the first sonic boom i heard in lebanon still frightened me. recalling the previous interviews with chinese people in lebanon, whenever they talked about sonic booms, their faces would change. now i understand why.
(two)
on the afternoon of the 20th, the southern suburbs of beirut, the capital of lebanon, were attacked. various news came in like a tsunami: explosions were heard in the southern suburbs of beirut, the number of casualties continued to increase, and the target of this attack was a senior military commander of hezbollah...
it was late at night when i finished writing all kinds of articles, including breaking news, information and news analysis. my local colleague bilal told me that hezbollah had sealed off the scene. that night, we went to sleep with trepidation.
on the morning of the 21st, the number of casualties from the attack rose to 31 dead and 68 injured. my colleagues and i agreed that we should go to the scene to report. at a time when the conflict between lebanon and israel has escalated significantly and domestic audiences are paying close attention to the development of the situation, it is our responsibility as frontline reporters to do our best to bring on-site reports.
when reporting from a battlefield, it is quite dangerous if you are not familiar with the scene, so i quickly contacted bilal to find out the situation, and finally we decided to go together.
sitting on the back of bilal's motorcycle, i observed the vehicles and pedestrians on the roadside along the way, and my palms were sweating with nervousness.
after entering the hezbollah activity area in the southern suburbs of beirut, bilal introduced the situation in the southern suburbs to me: the southern suburbs are separated from other areas of beirut by a wall; the building and population density in the southern suburbs are much greater than in other areas; there are usually serious traffic jams here every day, but after the attack, there are very few vehicles on the road; a certain road is named after nasrallah's son...
beirut's southern suburbs are the stronghold of hezbollah, and most residents support hezbollah. since october last year, it has been attacked by israel many times, killing several senior commanders.
twenty minutes later, we arrived near the attack site. hezbollah set up a blockade 70 to 80 meters outside the core site to check the credentials of people entering. after crossing the blockade, hezbollah set up a gathering point for journalists not far from the attack site. dozens of journalists from lebanon and abroad were waiting to enter the core site.
(three)
there were many hezbollah members gathered at the scene, but because there were dozens of colleagues waiting with me, my nervousness was relieved. i think the scene was safe to a certain extent, after all, only terrorist organizations would carry out serial attacks.
hezbollah usually organizes a group of reporters to enter the scene and shoot for more than ten minutes every few hours. the time we arrived was very suitable, and we followed the large group into the core scene without waiting for long.
the attacked building is not facing the street and is half-surrounded by several nine-story buildings, making it relatively hidden. according to israeli and local lebanese media, several commanders of hezbollah's elite radwan force were holding a meeting in the basement of the building when the attack occurred.
walking into the scene, the scene was devastated: the once multi-story building was razed to the ground, broken steel bars were scattered all over the ground, and broken cement blocks of varying sizes were stuck together. two large mechanical vehicles were working non-stop, an ambulance was parked next to the ruins, and 20 to 30 rescue workers in orange and yellow-green uniforms and wearing masks were busy on the ruins...
at this time, there are still more than 20 missing persons who may be buried under the rubble.
xinhua news agency reporter cheng shuaipeng at the attack site in the southern suburbs of beirut on september 21. photo by bilal jaweshi
i quickly turned on my phone to film and explain. the scene was noisy, and i had to raise the volume to worry about the poor reception of the phone, which inadvertently interrupted the al jazeera reporter who was reporting on the right side of me. he waved at the cameraman and said, "chinese reporter, (wait for him to finish)."
reporters from various countries crowded around the edge of the ruins to film and report. on-site organizers kept urging everyone to leave, but everyone wanted to stay a little longer.
i thought the ruins were all that was covered in this on-site report, but i didn't expect to see a new shocking scene on the other side of the street.
a nine-story building adjacent to the attacked building was also severely damaged, with multiple deep holes at the bottom, which was suspected to be caused by israeli missiles passing through the bottom of the building and hitting the basement of the target building. surprisingly, the adjacent high-rise building did not collapse, and the accuracy of the israeli attack was astonishing.
on the second floor of this building, a pink dress was hung in a damaged room, forming a sharp contrast with the deep hole and ruins. i felt sad, wondering where the owner was now.
after the interview, i quickly wrote the article, and the editor of the headquarters worked overnight to broadcast it in time. many friends sent me messages to inquire after seeing my appearance in the report.
(four)
when i was working in the baghdad branch, a colleague with extensive experience in battlefield reporting told me that it is best to have on-site reporting of major emergencies. i have always kept this in mind.
robert capa, the famous war photographer, once said: "if your pictures are not good enough, you are not close enough."
my colleague, khalil, a photographer at the baghdad bureau, also said: "no matter how precious the picture is, it is not worth sacrificing one's life for it." when khalil said this, we had just finished shooting three or four meters away from the iraqi engineers' bomb disposal work. he said with an exaggerated expression: "no news agency would let reporters shoot so close. we are really crazy."
perhaps this is the charm of live news.
source: china journalists association
author: cheng shuaipeng
