Until a few weeks ago, workers with the Lebanese Civil Defense in the small southern village of Derdghaiya would borrow ambulances from neighboring towns to conduct rescue missions. After the Israeli military escalated its bombardment of southern Lebanon last month, however, resources across the country’s health sector became scarce. Emergency vehicles for the Civil Defense, the country’s emergency medical service, became harder to access.
On September 17, when Israeli intelligence began detonating a series of bombs embedded in pagers and walkie-talkies across Lebanon, the scope of the problem became clear. While Israel claimed that the attack targeted members of Hezbollah, the devices exploded in public spaces like grocery stores and cafes, killing and injuring scores of people and sending Lebanon’s first responders scrambling. ….more