Tag: Beirut

  • Israel ready ‘for any scenario’ after strike kills Hamas deputy in Lebanon

    Israel ready ‘for any scenario’ after strike kills Hamas deputy in Lebanon

    Jerusalem (AFP) – The Israeli army has said it is “prepared for any scenario” after a strike in Beirut that killed Hamas’s deputy chief, stoking fears that it could boil over into wider regional conflict.

    A high-level security official in Lebanon told AFP that Saleh al-Aruri was killed along with his bodyguards in a strike by Israel.

    A second security official confirmed the information, while Hamas TV also reported Israel had killed Aruri in Lebanon.

    Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari did not directly comment on the killing, but said afterwards that the military was in “very high state of readiness in all arenas, in defence and offence. We are highly prepared for any scenario.”

    Israel has previously announced the deaths in Gaza of Hamas commanders and officials during the war, but Aruri is the most high-profile figure to be killed, and his death came in the first strike on the Lebanese capital since hostilities began.

    The strike adds to widespread fears that it could lead to a wider regional conflagration.

    Hamas said Aruri’s death would not lead to its defeat, while its Lebanon-based ally Hezbollah vowed the killing would not go unpunished, calling it “a serious assault on Lebanon… and a dangerous development”.

    Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the killing and said it “aims to draw Lebanon” further into the war.

    Aruri, who lived in exile, is accused by Israel of masterminding numerous attacks.

    Following his death, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said that a movement “whose leaders fall as martyrs for the dignity of our people and our nation will never be defeated”.

  • Lebanese artist turns blast debris into symbol of hope

    Lebanese artist turns blast debris into symbol of hope

    Lebanese artist Hayat Nazer created a symbol of hope from the Beirut blast debris which shocked the world in August 2020.

    The woman statue stands nearly three meters tall with her arm raised, the wind whipping the hair away from her scarred face, and a broken clock at her feet with the hands showing 6.08, the time that a blast ripped through Beirut port on the evening of August 4.

    The statue is made of broken glass and twisted materials that belonged to people’s homes before the explosion that killed 200 and injured 6,000 and symbolizes the city’s hopes of rising from the rubble.

    “If you look at the statue, one half has a leg standing, the hand looks surrendered, there is a scar on the face with the flying hair and the clock on this side, as if the explosion is still happening,” Nazer told Reuters.

    “But the other hand and the other leg is leaning as if it is starting to walk and the hand is raised, it wants to continue, it wants to keep going and rise from the rubble. And this is the truth, this is our truth,” the 33-year-old said.

    She says those affected by the blast who saw the 2.6-metre statue, temporarily exhibited in front of the damaged port, drew strength and hope to carry on.

    Nazer had already started on a female sculpture before the blast, but volunteered to help clean up destroyed houses and streets. At night, she would return to the sculpture, using the glass and metal pieces she had collected.

    “I felt like Beirut was a woman who despite what she suffered is very strong,” she said.