BEIRUT: Lebanese protestors and Palestinian refugees have taken to the streets throughout Lebanon to express their anger after the blast at Al-Ahli Al-Arabi Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Amid national mourning, flags were raised at half-mast over official administrations and institutions, and educational and trade union institutions were closed.
Palestinian refugees, in demonstrations that swept through the camps, repeated chants demanding that they be armed and sent to Gaza.
Some demonstrations targeted UN House in Beirut and the US embassy in the Awkar area, while the southern suburb of Beirut witnessed a Hezbollah demonstration. Medical teams in Lebanese hospitals observed a minute’s silence in front of hospital entrances in a gesture of solidarity.
Protesters near the US embassy denounced US President Joe Biden. A violent confrontation ensued between the protesters and riot police and Lebanese army units. Tear bombs and water cannons were used to disperse the protesters who tried to penetrate the barbed wire fence, throwing stones at the security forces.
A similar demonstration took place on Tuesday night near the embassy, during which violence erupted and shops in the area were destroyed.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati participated in a sit-in in solidarity (with the Palestinians) outside the Ministry of Health headquarters. Mikati said: “Today we have become subject to the law of the jungle; the strong devour the weak, and the international community stands with the executioner.”
Mikati said that “human values are being violated in Gaza, and justice is being struck at the core” and asked: “Where does the UN stand regarding what is happening? What about the Security Council? The UN Charter?”
Head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council Hashim Safi Al-Din spoke to demonstrators in the southern suburb of Beirut.
“We say to US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the project to displace the people of Gaza will not pass,” he said. “You must beware of us, as the mistake you may make with our resistance will be answered resoundingly. Today we are thousands of times stronger, and be careful not to make any mistakes.”
The demonstrators in the Lebanese regions, including women dressed in black, raised Palestinian flags and chanted slogans against Israel and the US, denouncing what they considered “double standards” in dealing with the attack.
The events in Beirut and other regions were accompanied by strict security measures adopted by the Lebanese army.
Mufti of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate Sheikh Bakr Rifai told protesters in Baalbek: “The reaction of the free world is what encouraged the Israeli enemy to continue its aggression and assault on innocent people. It is escaping forward by committing massacre after massacre.”
The city of Sidon and its camps witnessed marches in which participants raised Palestinian flags and repeated chants denouncing the attack.
The popular movements extended to Tripoli and the Beddawi Palestinian refugee camp with marches in vehicles and on foot, in support of Palestine and in solidarity with the victims in Gaza.
After news and pictures of the Baptist Hospital massacre circulated, hundreds of citizens on Tuesday night in Beirut and other regions took to the streets to express their anger. Protesters smashed the iron barriers that were placed around UN House. They wrote slogans in red paint on the walls surrounding the headquarters.
In the wake of the demonstrations inside Lebanon, Hezbollah targeted an Israeli army Merkava tank at the Al-Raheb site on the southern border, “killing and injuring soldiers on board,” the party reported.
The forested area on the outskirts of the town of Alma Al-Shaab was subjected to Israeli bombing while Israeli warplanes flew over the border areas.
UNIFIL official spokesman, Andrea Tenenti, confirmed that “UNIFIL peacekeepers remain in their positions and on task. We have no plans to leave and we are doing our utmost 24/7 to defuse tension and prevent further deterioration of the situation.”
Hezbollah mourned five of its members, bringing the number killed during the confrontations in the south to 10 since the start of the border escalation.
The US embassy in Lebanon recommended that “US citizens make appropriate arrangements to leave the country.”
The French embassy in Lebanon advised its nationals against “traveling to and staying in Lebanon, except for urgent reasons.”
