MARJAYOUN, Lebanon: An escalation of fighting on Lebanon’s southern border would further strain hospitals already struggling with a lack of money in a national financial crisis, the Middle East chief of The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday.
Lebanon’s heavily armed Hezbollah party has been exchanging fire with Israel across the border over the last five months in parallel with the Gaza war. More than 50 civilians have been killed in Israeli shelling on Lebanon, along with more than 200 Hezbollah fighters, according to medical and security sources.
Israel says about a dozen of its soldiers and half as many civilians have been killed in shelling from Lebanon into the north of the country.
Doctors in southern Lebanon have sounded the alarm, saying an influx of wounded has pushed the health sector to its limits.
Speaking to Reuters outside Lebanon’s Marjayoun Hospital near the border with Israel, Fabrizio Carboni said Lebanon did not have the needed resources to support its health facilities.
“Then you also have a lot of health personnel who left the country – so, yes, there is a concern,” he said.
“We know should something happen – and we hope the situation will not deteriorate – there will be a need for substantial medical support for the population in the south of Lebanon and all people affected by the conflict,” Carboni said.
Marjayoun Hospital has 14 emergency beds and struggles to operate because of a lack of staff and, crucially, fuel shortages, its director has told Reuters. It runs on its own electricity generators for 20 hours a day, paying up to $20,000 a month for the fuel.
Carboni urged warring parties on the Lebanon-Israel border to respect the protected status of medical staff and facilities, saying it was “very concerning, very worrying” to see cases of rescue workers being killed in shelling.
Seven rescue workers and paramedics have been killed in Israeli shelling over the last five months, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Red Cross ‘concerned’ for south Lebanon’s hospitals in case of escalation
https://arab.news/98ap9
Red Cross ‘concerned’ for south Lebanon’s hospitals in case of escalation
- Doctors in southern Lebanon have sounded the alarm, saying an influx of wounded has pushed the health sector to its limits
- Fabrizio Carboni said Lebanon did not have the needed resources to support its health facilities
Hundreds mourn in Syria’s Homs after deadly mosque bombing
- Officials have said the preliminary investigations indicate explosive devices were planted inside the mosque but have not yet publicly identified a suspect
HOMS: Hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday despite rain and cold outside of a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs where a bombing the day before killed eight people and wounded 18.
The crowd gathered next to the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi Al-Dhahab neighborhood, where the population is predominantly from the Alawite minority, before driving in convoys to bury the victims.
Officials have said the preliminary investigations indicate explosive devices were planted inside the mosque but have not yet publicly identified a suspect.
A little-known group calling itself Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on its Telegram channel, in which it indicated that the attack intended to target members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam whom hard-line Islamists consider to be apostates.
The same group had previously claimed a suicide attack in June in which a gunman opened fire and then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church in Dweil’a, on the outskirts of Damascus, killing 25 people as worshippers prayed on a Sunday.
A neighbor of the mosque, who asked to be identified only by the honorific Abu Ahmad (“father of Ahmad“) out of security concerns, said he was at home when he heard the sound of a “very very strong explosion.”
He and other neighbors went to the mosque and saw terrified people running out of it, he said. They entered and began trying to help the wounded, amid blood and scattered body parts on the floor.
While the neighborhood is primarily Alawite, he said the mosque had always been open to members of all sects to pray.
“It’s the house of God,” he said. “The mosque’s door is open to everyone. No one ever asked questions. Whoever wants to enter can enter.”
Mourners were unable to enter the mosque to pray Saturday because the crime scene remained cordoned off, so they prayed outside.
Some then marched through the streets chanting “Ya Ali,” in reference to the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law whom Shiite Muslims consider to be his rightful successor.
