She was photo He was safe for most of the year, which witnessed an exchange of gunfire between groups Lebanese Hezbollah andIsraelbut Israeli air strikes This week it raised fears that nowhere in Lebanon will be safe.
Near one of the three residential buildings that turned into rubble on Wednesday, a family placed their belongings in a parked car surrounded by shards of broken glass and debris. Eight mattresses were loaded onto the roof of the car and tied with a rope.
And smashed Israeli bombing The facades of the surrounding buildings were completely exposed, and bathroom and kitchen pipes were completely exposed. Personal belongings were scattered everywhere: shoes, pictures, toys and clothes. The picturesque beaches in Tire were empty of visitors.
And just last month, environmental activists were helping Sea turtles The endangered species continues to lay its eggs along the coast, but has since been warned Israeli army Of maritime activities, saying they may be targeted.
She said Lebanese authorities More than 2,500 people died in Israeli attack on LebanonMore than 1.2 million people were forced to flee their homes.
Hassan Dabouq, mayor of Tire, told Reuters that only a quarter of the city’s population remained, and that many feared that the devastation that befell the Palestinian Gaza Strip would also affect them.
In the port of Tire, dozens of ships were anchored on Wednesday morning. This area is usually bustling with activity as fishermen bring their catch to sell to merchants, but the place is now filled with cautious calm. A few fishermen came, not to fish, but to check on their boats.
Shops and restaurants were closed, and refrigerators containing fresh fish were closed and empty of products.
“Fierce war”
Only those who had nowhere else to go and those who felt a duty to stay remained in the city. A Tire resident said she would rather stay in her hometown than die as a refugee.
Wael Marwa (49 years old), director of Jabal Amel Hospital, also chose to stay in the city. This hospital is one of 3 hospitals that still provide its services in southern Lebanon.
Marwa, who lived through many wars, remembers his childhood, which was full of bombings, explosions, and destruction.
He decided not to expose his three children and his family to the same horrors, so he sent them to a safe place in the north, while he remained in Tyre.
He told Reuters in the hospital, “A difficult decision, a decision to part. Maybe we will never see each other again. We do not know how things will go in this fierce war that is taking place against us.”
In the hospital corridors, mattresses and other personal belongings were scattered. To convince some of his employees to stay, Marwa allowed them to live there with their families.
As in the city itself, only a quarter of the doctors remained in the hospital, and a little more than a third of the nurses remained.
Marwa toured the intensive care unit and the dialysis unit to check on about 30 patients injured in the war, many of whom were seriously injured and unconscious.
Marwa sends stable patients to Beirut every day, but as the conflict continues, he prepares and prepares the hospital for the worst.
He said that there are worrying patterns in Israel’s actions in Lebanon that are similar to what happened in Gaza, especially with regard to targeting relief workers, medical aid, and hospitals.
Lebanon says 13 of its hospitals and more than 100 other health facilities are out of service due to Israeli strikes.
The World Health Organization says that more than 100 doctors and rescue workers were killed last year in Lebanon.
Marwa believes that these Israeli strikes are an attempt to weaken morale, but he says that they have not affected his sense of responsibility.
He added: “If everyone were to leave their homeland, no one would remain… Our presence here as doctors and as a hospital is part of our steadfastness in the region.”
