Lebanese dead lie in rubble
By Nicholas Blanford
07/21 "The
Times" -- -- Tyre, Lebanon - With goat-like agility,
Yussef Jaafar scrambles over the pile of rubble that until a few
hours earlier had been the home of his aunt, Im Suheil Qudsi.
Somewhere beneath the tangled mass of smashed concrete, steel rods,
dust and the volcano-like crater left by an Israeli bomber lay the
remains of Mrs Qudsi, her 30-year-old daughter-in-law and her three
children aged from 4 to 11.
“They are under the rubble but no one will help me get them out,” Mr
Jaafar said. He had taken the perilous journey from Sidon, 20 miles
to the north, to recover the bodies of his relatives.
Throughout south Lebanon homes have been destroyed by massive aerial
bombs, leaving the victims to rot in the summer heat beneath the
debris.
A convoy of Chinese engineers from the United Nations peacekeeping
force in south Lebanon, Unifil, was forced to abandon its mission of
recovering the bodies when they found their path blocked by Israeli
artillery shelling.
Most southerners willing and able to flee the onslaught have already
done so. But hundreds of others are only now abandoning their homes
on the orders of the Israeli military.
Israel is broadcasting warnings to the population of south Lebanon
over the old radio station once operated by its Lebanese militia
allies in the 1990s. The border village of Aitaroun and the market
town of Bint Jbeil were ordered to be vacated by 3pm this afternoon,
sending panicked residents streaming to the coastal city of Tyre.
“We left immediately when we heard the warning, not stopping to pack
or even bring money,” said Ali Hijazi, who undertook the perilous
trip from Aitaroun along cratered roads to the seafront Rest House
hotel in Tyre which has become a refugee centre. Many people
remained behind in Aitaroun, unable to leave due to lack of
transportation or infirmity.
Mr Hijazi said: “We drove through Bint Jbeil and there were women
standing in the street crying and begging with us to take them to
Tyre. But our car was full and we had no room. There was nothing we
could do for them.”
Mahmoud Hijazi, Ali’s 16-year-old son, said that the Israeli air
strikes and artillery shelling was concentrated initially in open
areas around the village.
“But the for the last two days they have been hitting the village
centre,” he said.
Two families, comprising 20 people, were blown to pieces in air
raids on their homes.
“My six year-old brother and eight-year-old sister have seen things
that no child should see,” Mahmoud said.
Israel’s artillery and air blitz against south Lebanon continued
uninterrupted today, with Tyre echoing to the thump of explosions.
Three blasts close to the Rest House hotel sent panicked refugees
scurrying for cover, ducking behind chairs and pushing and shoving
each other to avoid the plate glass windows.
In the early evening, the hotel shook to a massive blast less than a
mile away which sent a towering column of black smoke and dust into
the air.
Further south along the coast, Unifil troops were forced to abandon
their armoured personnel carriers and seek cover in the bomb
shelters of a Unifil position when Israeli navy gunboats and
warplanes unleashed a heavy barrage. Smoke rose up from the
shelling, blanketing the orange groves and banana plantations along
the seafront.
One Lebanese woman, her nerves frayed by the incessant explosions,
screamed with anger at a Lebanese army officer when dozens of
soldiers arrived to protect and escort to the north foreign
nationals who were stranded at the Rest House hotel.
“The foreigners have everything. We are Lebanese and this is our
land and we are cast into the streets,” she yelled at the officer.
But there appears to be no imminent cessation of the violence.
Unifil’s own supplies are running perilously low. Isolated
observation posts along the border are short on food and drinking
water. Fuel to keep the few armoured relief convoys moving could run
out by the weekend, one officer said, which will completely paralyze
the force.
Copyright 2006 Times Newspapers Ltd.
