‘Indiscriminate attack’ on Lebanon ‘major escalation’, says Lebanese Health Minister

We spoke to Dr Firass Abiad, Lebanon’s health minister, and asked him to update us on the casualties there after the last two days of attacks.

Dr Firass Abiad: We have witnessed two attacks, one on the 17th and one on the 18th. The total casualty count up to now, we’re reporting 37 deaths. That’s including an eight-year-old female child and an 11-year-old male child. We also are reporting around 2,930 casualties. We have around 300 of those who are still in critical conditions, and up to now, we have performed over 1,000 operations. Most of the casualties that we witnessed on the first day were mainly in the face and affecting the eyes and the hand. A large number of those patients ended up losing their eyesight and also the function of at least one of their hands.

Matt Frei: These are really terrible numbers. When was the last time that your health system faced such a critical challenge?

Dr Firass Abiad: I think the Lebanese health system, to be honest, ever since the financial crisis started, has been under a lot of strain. We had the financial crisis, then Covid, then we had Beirut blasts, where this was the third non-nuclear explosion in history. This is coming now at a very difficult time for Lebanon.

Matt Frei: The Israelis have not admitted to doing this attack, but everyone is pointing the finger at them and they frankly haven’t denied it. Do you agree with Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, that this is a declaration of war against your country?

Dr Firass Abiad: I don’t want to characterise it, but the position of the Lebanese government since day one has been that Lebanon does not want war. And I think that this is also the feeling amongst the vast majority of the Lebanese population. Now, having said that, clearly what we have witnessed in the last two days, this indiscriminate attack which affected a large number of civilians, people have seen the videos.

There were devices exploding in markets, on the streets, among people in their cars. We’ve had children, as I said, have died because of this. I think this is a major escalation. People are looking at it as a provocation, and I don’t think that this will help going to a diplomatic solution.

Matt Frei: Diplomacy couldn’t be further away from looking at the situation right now. And although there was no official declaration of war, does it feel like that to you? Does it feel like that to you that you are caught in the middle of a war between Hezbollah and the Israeli government?

Dr Firass Abiad: I don’t think that this is going to bring us into war, but definitely it is an escalation of an already very bad situation.

Matt Frei: Because also, while Mr Hassan Nasrallah was speaking, we could hear sonic booms of low-flying Israeli jets over the city of Beirut, where you’re speaking from. Those strikes are getting closer and closer to where you are right now.

Dr Firass Abiad: I must tell you that I’m a surgeon who practised in the final bits of the Lebanese civil war. And when I was doing rounds yesterday and the day before on hospitals and meeting people, the feeling I got is not a feeling of people in desperation or people in hopelessness or people scared. I got the feeling that these people I have a feeling of indignation.

Matt Frei: The Israelis want to sort out their situation in the north of their country, where there are 60,000 people who are unable to live in their homes because of artillery fire and missiles coming in from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Are you afraid that the Israelis are provoking this fight for their own reasons, for their own people, that that is what they’re determined to do and there’s not much you can do about it?

Dr Firass Abiad: I am worried that our health system, already under a lot of strain, might not be able to withstand further escalation and hostilities and further escalation, especially if we are talking about a ground war or a major escalation. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that there is a tit for tat. And these events that we are witnessing, unfortunately, send the wrong signals.