Under fire and using old equipment, Lebanese rescuers struggle to respond to the Israeli offensive

The economic crisis that began in 2019 and the massive port explosion in 2020 have left Lebanon struggling to provide basic services such as electricity and medical care. Political divisions have left the country of 6 million people without a president or a functioning government for more than two years, deepening a national sense of abandonment that reaches down to the people the country depends on in times of crisis.

“We have zero capabilities and zero logistics,” Arkadan said. “We don’t have gloves or personal protective equipment.”

The war turned Lebanon upside down again

Israel’s intensified air campaign against Hezbollah has turned the country upside down. According to the Ministry of Health, more than 1,000 people have died in Israeli strikes since September 17, almost a quarter of them women and children. Hundreds of thousands of people fled their homes, sleeping on beaches and streets.

The World Health Organization reported that more than 30 primary health care centers in affected areas of Lebanon were closed.

On Tuesday, Israel said it had launched a limited ground operation against Hezbollah and warned people to evacuate several southern communities, vowing further escalation.

Lebanon “is grappling with multiple crises that have overwhelmed the country’s capacity to cope,” said Imran Riza, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, who said the U.N. has allocated $24 million in emergency funding for those affected by the fighting. .

Exhausted medical staff struggle to cope with the daily influx of new patients. In line with government emergency plans, hospitals and medical workers have suspended non-urgent surgeries.

Government shelters are full

In the southern province of Tire, many doctors fled with the inhabitants. In Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon’s largest province, rescuers say they have been working around the clock since last week to reach hundreds of people injured in bombings that hit dozens of villages and towns, often many on the same day.

After the Sidon bombing, nearly 250 rescuers joined Arkadan’s team, including a specialized search and rescue unit from Beirut, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) to the north. His team did not have the modern equipment needed to pull people out of the disaster.

“We used traditional tools like scissors, cables, shovels,” Arkadan said.

– Is anyone here? rescuers screamed through cracks in the piles of rubble, searching for survivors buried deeper underground. One excavator moved the debris slowly to avoid shaking the piles of bricks and mangled steel.

Many sought refuge in the ancient city of Tire, 20 kilometers north of the border with Israel, thinking it would escape the bombings. More than 8,000 people showed up, said Hassan Dbouk, head of the disaster management unit.

He said there were no pre-positioned supplies such as food parcels, hygiene kits and mattresses and moving trucks was now fraught with danger. Farmers have been denied access to land because of the bombings, and the commune is struggling to pay wages.

The humanitarian situation is catastrophic

Meanwhile, garbage is piling up in the streets. The number of municipal workers dropped from 160 to 10.

“The humanitarian situation is catastrophic,” Dbouk said.

Wissam Ghazal, a health ministry official in Tire, said only five of 35 doctors remained in one hospital. He added that eight doctors were killed in two days in Tire province, including three from a medical organization linked to Hezbollah.

Over the weekend, the city itself became the target of attacks.

Israeli warplanes struck near the port city’s famous ruins, along beaches and in residential and commercial areas, forcing thousands of residents to flee. At least 15 civilians were killed on Saturday and Sunday, including two city workers, a soldier and several children, all but one from two families.

It took rescuers two days to comb through the rubble of a house in the city center’s Kharab neighborhood where a bomb killed nine members of the al-Samra family.

Six premature babies staying in incubators across the city were transferred to Beirut. Ghazal said the only doctor in the city who cared for them was unable to move between hospitals under fire.

One of the district’s four hospitals was closed after damage caused by the strike, which affected electricity supplies and damaged an operating room. In two other hospitals, windows were broken. For now, there are more dead than injured in city hospitals.

“But there is no telling what will happen when the intensity of attacks increases. We will definitely need more.”

Dealing with what they have

Hosein Faqih, head of civil defense in Nabatiyeh province, said that “we are working in very difficult and critical circumstances because the strikes are random. We have no protection. We have no shields, no helmets, no additional hoses. The newest vehicle is 25 years old. Despite everything, we continue to work.”

At least three members of his firefighting team died in early September. Since then, ten players have been injured. Of the 45 vehicles, six were hit and are currently unusable.

Faqih said he limits his team’s search and rescue missions to residential areas, keeping them away from forests and open areas where they used to put out fires.

“There is something difficult every day these days. Body parts are everywhere, children, civilians and bodies under the rubble,” Faqih said. Still, he said, he considers his job a safety net for people.

“We serve the people and we will work with what we have.”