RIYADH, 12 November 2003 — When Dr. Ziad Salameh heard the first shots ring out across the Al-Muhaya Compound, he felt a strange sense of clarity. Dr. Ziad, a Lebanese dental specialist working at the King Saud University College of Dentistry, had lived through the civil war in Lebanon, and he knew what he was hearing.
Dr. Ziad has lived in the capital for four years. Two months ago, he got married and brought his new wife to live at the Al-Muhaya Compound. Dr. Ziad was lucky to escape without injury; his wife, a Lebanese-Australian, received minor cuts to her face and body from flying glass.
“I remember every minute of the attack,” he told Arab News in an exclusive interview. “The first thing I heard was a hand grenade exploding followed by 30 seconds of shooting. Things then went quiet for a few seconds, then more shooting for another 30 seconds. I ran to the front door to see what was going on and saw red glowing bullets flying into the compound from the mountains above. At that point, I was sure that a large bomb would go off. I grabbed my wife and rushed her into the kitchen. My neighbor who came to visit after paying his rent a few minutes earlier was in my house. He ran to see what was going on outside.
“As my wife and I made it into the kitchen, the rest of the house disintegrated around us. I looked at my wife and she had some minor cuts, but my neighbor was bleeding to death in front of us as a result of flying glass hitting his face and neck and severing his carotid artery. Blood was gushing and squirting out of his wound. My wife used her bare hands to try to squeeze the muscles around his neck in order to stop the bleeding. I remember from the days of the civil war in Lebanon that most injuries occurred as a result of flying glass. The kitchen only had a small window and that’s why I thought we would be safest there.
“From where we were, I could hear the National Guard soldiers stationed at our compound shooting back. I believe one of the soldiers was injured slightly and one of the Sudanese security guards was killed in the shootout.
“After the explosion everything went quiet, so we went into the backyard. Then the shooting started again. A friend of mine lived in the Al-Hamra Compound — the scene of the May 12 attack — and he described to me how the attackers were going house to house shooting at anyone they saw. That was what I was terrified of. We have no weapons to defend ourselves with.
“My neighbor was pleading with me to take him to the hospital, but I couldn’t because we were maintaining a defensive position while the shooting was still going on. Then suddenly, all the shooting stopped. That was when we started to hear all the moaning and screaming.
“The houses directly behind us had collapsed and were on fire. They were the closest to the blast. All this time, I was worried about the shooting starting up again. We didn’t know who was with us and who was against us. We went to see our neighbor at unit 290. He was killed, his mother and maid were injured. As I walked around the compound, I could see people emerging from their houses injured and bleeding. Everyone was in a state of shock and confusion.
“I saw some young girls aged maybe nine and 13 crying, looking for their parents. I also saw a man lying dead on the ground. People were looking for their relatives.
“At least eight of my friends died in the attack.
“Immediately after the shooting stopped, dozens of soldiers entered the compound. Within an hour of the attack, over 2,000 emergency workers had descended upon the compound as well. Many survivors worked with the Civil Defense in rescuing the injured and recovering the bodies. In one villa they recovered three bodies, in another two, and in another five. At least five of them were children.”
Dr. Ziad felt that the attack was orchestrated by professionals. “This attack was well planned. It is not easy to get into this compound at all. They must have studied the compound. Three days before the attack, a friend came by and told me that this compound was exposed from the mountains above and therefore open to attack. Perhaps that is why they chose this compound.”
The attack on this predominantly Arab compound surprised people all over the world, none perhaps more so than those that lived there, who believed it to be the safest of all Riyadh’s compounds.
“Our compound was not like most other compounds. In my estimate, 97 or 98 percent of the residents were either Arabs or of Arab origin. After the May 12 bombings, my neighbors and I sat down and did a study of what we felt were the safest and most dangerous compounds to live in. Al-Muhaya, in our opinion, was the safest because there were not that many Westerners living here. The majority of people who lived here worked for hospitals or advertising agencies. As far as I know, there were no defense company employees or anyone of special interest to terrorists that could be considered a target.”
Dr. Ziad described the compound as a close-knit community of friends. “My wife was extremely happy because we had a fantastic social life in the compound. She really liked Riyadh. She was telling all her friends all over the world how wonderful life here was. The two months’ worth of memories were fantastic, but unfortunately she left for Lebanon the day after the bombing.”
Dr. Ziad said his wife left as there was no longer a place for them to call home. “She was traumatized by the attack and needed to get away. There is no hatred on her part toward Saudis or Saudi Arabia or toward Muslims. I think what happened here is a crime against humanity. I hope that people, especially in the Middle East, will not consider this an act by Saudis. The people who did this do not belong to any nationality or to any religion. They don’t even belong to the human race.”
