In Lebanon, thousands of explosions are causing unrest in a country that has been in a state of uncertainty for years

BEIRUT (AP) — Chris Knayzeh was in a city towering over Lebanon’s capital when he heard the rumbling aftershock of the 2020 explosion at Beirut’s port. Hundreds of tons of accidentally stored ammonium nitrate gas exploded, killing more than 200 people and injuring thousands.

Already struggling with the country’s economic collapse, the sight of the giant mushroom cloud released by the eruption was the final straw. Like many other Lebanese, he quit his job and booked a one-way ticket out of Lebanon.

Knayzeh, now a professor at a university in France, was visiting Lebanon when news broke Tuesday of the deadly attack, in which thousands of portable pagers exploded in homes, shops, markets and streets across the country. Israel, local media reported, was targeting devices belonging to the militant group Hezbollah. Stuck in traffic in Beirut, Knayzeh began to panic that drivers around him were potentially carrying devices that could explode.

Within minutes, hospitals were flooded with bloody patients, bringing back painful memories of the port explosion from four years earlier that left lasting psychological and psychological scars on those who survived it.

A day later, a similar attack hit walkie-talkies. In all, the explosions killed at least 37 people and injured more than 3,000, many of them civilians. Israel is widely believed to be behind the blasts, although it has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.

“The state of the country is unreal,” Knayzeh told The Associated Press.

SEE MORE: Pentagon holds press conference, and Hezbollah leader says pager attack crossed ‘red line’

The port explosion was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded, and it came on top of a historic economic slump, financial collapse and a sense of helplessness after nationwide anti-corruption protests failed to achieve their goals. It deepened years of crises that have upended the lives of people in the small country.

Four years after the port disaster, the investigation has stalled. The devastated Mediterranean port remains intact, its towering silos standing shattered and torn, a symbol of a country in ruins. Political division and paralysis have left the country without a president or functioning government for more than two years. Poverty is rising.

To make matters worse, in parallel with the war in Gaza, Lebanon has been on the brink of all-out war with Israel for a year now. Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire across the border, and Israeli warplanes have broken the sound barrier over Beirut almost daily, terrifying people in their homes and offices.

“I can’t believe this is happening again. How much more disaster can we endure?” asked Jocelyn Hallak, a mother of three, two of whom are working abroad and the third will leave after graduating from college next year. “All this pain, when will it end?”

A full-blown war with Israel could be devastating for Lebanon. The country’s crisis-stricken health system was preparing for the possibility of conflict with Israel even before hospitals were flooded with the wounded in the latest explosions. Most of the injuries were to the face, eyes and limbs, many of them critical and requiring extended hospital stays.

Still, Knayzeh, 27, can’t stay away. He returns regularly to see his girlfriend and family. He cringes whenever he hears construction or other sudden loud noises. When he’s in France, surrounded by normalcy, he agonizes over his family at home while watching the ongoing clashes from afar.

“I think it’s attachment to our country, or at least attachment to our loved ones who couldn’t leave with us,” he said.

This summer, tens of thousands of Lebanese expats have come to visit family and friends despite the tensions. Their remittances and the money they spend there help keep the country afloat and in some cases are a major source of income for families. But many have cut their vacations short amid chaotic scenes at airports, fearing a major escalation following the killings of Hezbollah and Hamas commanders in Beirut and Tehran last month, which were blamed on Israel.

Even in a country that has veered from one crisis to another for decades, levels of confusion, uncertainty and anger are reaching new heights. Many thought the port explosion was the most surreal and terrifying thing they had ever experienced — until thousands of pagers exploded in people’s hands and pockets across the country this week.

“I saw terrifying things that day,” said Mohammad al-Mousawi, who was on the job in a southern suburb of Beirut where Hezbollah has a strong influence when the pagers started going off.

“Suddenly we started seeing scooters whizzing by, carrying deformed men, some missing fingers, some with their insides spilling out. Then ambulances started arriving.”

It reminded him of the 2020 port explosion, he said. “The number of injured people and ambulances was unbelievable.”

READ MORE: What role did a Hungarian company play in supplying pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria?

“Another horror film shaping our collective existence,” wrote Maha Yahya, director of the Beirut-based Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center.

“The shock, the chaos, the trauma are reminiscent of Beirut after the port explosion. Only this time, they were not limited to the city but spread across the country,” she said in a social media post.

Fear and paranoia have gripped the nation in the wake of the pager explosions, with parents keeping their children away from schools and universities, fearing more pager explosions. Organizations including Lebanon’s civil defense have advised staff to turn off the devices and remove all batteries until further notice. One woman said she had unplugged a baby monitor and other household appliances.

Lebanon’s civil aviation authority banned pagers and walkie-talkies on all flights departing from Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport “until further notice.” Some residents slept with their phones in another room.

In the southern city of Tyre, before a speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, a local resident named Hassan Hajo said he felt “a little down” after the pager blasts, a major security breach for a secret organization like Hezbollah. He hoped Nasrallah’s speech would give him some encouragement. “We’ve been through worse and we’ve gotten through it,” he said.

In his speech, Nasrallah vowed to respond to Israel for attacks on the facilities, while Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging heavy fire across the border.

Israel has stepped up warnings about a potential larger military operation against the group.

Another resident, Marwan Mahfouz, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been threatening Lebanon with war for the past year and that he should just do it.

“If we’re going to die, we’re going to die. We’re already dying. We’re already dead,” he said.