
First we had Qana where 28 are confirmed dead (14 are missing there but it is still too dangerous to search the rubble for the remaining bodies). Now we have a new massacre du jour. Chiah, where the AP reports at least 30 bodies have been recovered after an IAF airstrike on two homes demolished them. That would make it the current ‘winner’ in the IAF ‘death sweepstakes.’ Here’s an earlier report from Blogging the Middle East which first alerted me to the story:
Some hours ago two residential buildings in Chiah were struck. Chiah is pretty close to Beirut, it’s a suburb, but closer to central Beirut than the suburbs that had so far been the focus of Israeli attacks. It’s to the east of Camille Cham’oun Stadium, north of Ghbeire, adjacent to Ain al-Remmene, and south of Furn al-Chebbek. The building collapsed. So far at least 20 bodies have been pulled out, and many more are missing.
And here’s the AP report:
Fourteen more bodies have been pulled from the wreckage of two buildings hit Monday night by Israeli airstrikes in a southern suburb of Beirut, bringing to 30 the number of deaths in what was believed to be the deadliest known attack of the monthlong war.
Police said 60 people were wounded in the attack on the Shiite Muslim Chiah district, which leveled one building and badly damaged another.
Rescuers labored overnight and all day Tuesday to retrieve bodies trapped under shards of concrete.
It was believed to be the single bloodiest Israeli attack on Lebanon in this war.
The Lebanese blog, UrShalim reports 56 dead and 50 injured. But I have not been able to confirm this figure through other sources.
This Yahoo!News headline articulates the stakes quite clearly: Beirut bombing risks retaliation on Tel Aviv. Nasrallah has promised to hit Tel Aviv if Israel resumed bombing Beirut. Now, with this new massacre the IAF has called his bluff. I don’t like this game of chicken. Neither side will win. Though the Lebanese will always come out worse since Israel has superior firepower. That’s the tragedy of it all.
The BBC reports the story but lists only 15 dead. Why in heavens name are the NY Times and Haaretz not reporting this story?? Checking GoogleNews almost no one’s covering it. Why?
UPDATE: I was not right when I said the Times had not covered the story nor when I said “almost no one’s covering it.” NYT featured a dramatic front page photo of a man being rescused as he dangled from a building balcony by one hand. But the image noted the building was located in a “Beirut suburb” without providing any specific location. And I did not find any coverage of the incident within the paper. Other meda sources have convered the story but used up to four variants in the spelling of “Chiah.” So it was hard to track the coverage. But the main point of my argument still holds. Coverage was spotty, unsustained and imprecise. Another disservice done by the world media to Lebanon’s poor suffering population.
Anarchristian of Blogging the Middle East has written me this private e mail about the tragic event in which he confirms the figure of “above 50 killed”:
The figure is somewhere above 50 killed so far (and many more injured), according to Lebanese sources. Many are still trapped under the rubble; the morning after the attack, it was reported that people were still alive under the rubble and had been calling out for help. I think the figure (this was the morning after the attack, so they might have recovered some of the bodies) of those trapped under the rubble in what was perceived to be a group of refugees who had sought refuge in the shelter of one of the buildings was somewhere around 30-40. The two buildings were actually full of people – many of them refugees, as those areas were not expected to be targeted.
Well, I think 30 days of continuous bombardment all over the country and the deliberate targeting of residential neighbourhoods with full knowledge that civilians have not left those areas, has created a feeling of ‘yeah, another massacre, what’s new?’… I would say the outrage following the latest Qana massacre has to do with the Qana massacre in 1996… People were outraged the first time it happened, and they were outraged at the international cover-up, and a 2nd massacre at the same place (and the predictable international aloofness) just made it worse…
Dear Mr. Silverstien;
I am writing you this short letter to thank you for your efforts to concile the hearts minds of the Arabs and the Jews. I would also like to thanks you for your objective wirintg, knowing how hard it must be for you to denounce the actions of a government that you physically belong to (the USA), and one that you morally belong to (Israel).
I really wish more pople would find, both, the courage, and the moral wisdom to look at any crisis in the world with such objectivness and fairness.
Mr. Silverstien, if ever you happen to be in Beirut, I would be very honoured to meet you and give you the grand tour as a guest to myself and my family.
Best regards
Nawar Hage
P.S. If ever you want verification on info from Lebanese Bloggers, do refer to following sites:
http://www.tayyar.org (follows Michel Aoun)
naharnet.url (follows 14 March group)
An Nahar.url
Aljazeera (typical Arab Media)
Nawar: Thank you for yr gracious invitation. I hope one day to be able to take you up on that wonderful offer. I’ve read often about the wonderful hospitality offered by Beirutis. My only wish is that your city and nation can one day soon return to the vibrancy you enjoyed before this disaster struck.
Pls. let your fellow Beirutis know about my new peace blog aggregator, Israel Palestine Blogs, featuring 35 Lebanese, Israeli, Palestinian & Jewish & Arab Diaspora blogs devoted to the Israeli Arab conflict.
And thank you for those other links which I will check out. I knew about Naharnet & Aljazeera.
I stumbled upon your blog from a friend, and I am impressed.
Your entries have a sensibility to them that many Jewish people have foolishly gotten away from.
Keep working for justice.
p.s. Do you know of any Yiddish programs in Baltimore?
Hi Richard, I was just browsing the net with no success of finding a site that concentrates the current death toll on both sides. Obvisouly it’s one of the major issues of the war, and all sides are publishing numbers according to their interests, but I was hopefull to find some half reliable source for it.
Keep up the good work, you’re high up on the goolge search, and that means good PR for the fading humanist cause.
yoav
Israel
Yoav: Always good to hear from folks in Israel esp. those who understand the damage this war is doing to Israel in particular. Pls. keep up the good fight for what is right & just for both sides.
If you come across any Hebrew language peace blogs pls. let me know for my Israel Palestine Blogs aggregator.