Grief, unease, then fear: When an Israeli bomb hit a funeral in Beirut

The air was already filled with unease, anger and sadness.

Cars and pedestrians crowded the boulevards and alleys of Beirut's southern suburbs as thousands of Hezbollah supporters and other grieving Lebanese made their way to the funeral.

Angry leaflets were hurled at passersby. Vigilant security guards kept an eye on anyone entering the main street, where Hezbollah had organized a mass funeral for its members killed in the exploding pager attack the day before.

On Tuesday afternoon, chaos reigned in the southern suburbs of Beirut, an area popularly known as Dahiyeh, as explosions rang out and dazed and bleeding people stumbled into the streets.

Middle East Eye wanted to talk to residents about how they felt as they witnessed the events unfolding before their eyes: pagers exploding in grocery stores, cafes, private homes and at least one hospital.

But first I had to get permission from Hezbollah, which gave me access to the highly secure public funeral they were holding.

Dahiyeh is often described as a Hezbollah “stronghold.” And while it is true that the powerful armed movement is the dominant force in the district, this description ignores the fact that the area is predominantly residential.

As I began to open my notebook, there was a loud explosion that drowned out the music and everyone fell silent.

“What just happened?” people asked each other.

“Was that a sonic boom?” said one, referring to Israeli jets breaking the sound barrier over Beirut, a sound that has haunted residents for weeks.

The sight of people fleeing the scene of the explosion dispelled the confusion.

Some screamed in fear while others began to sing Shiite chants of mourning.

As someone rushed past me, he asked, “Who still has their pager with them?” The location of the alleged attack did not go unnoticed. “At a funeral?” I heard an incredulous man say.

All kinds of rumors were already circulating. One police officer told me it was simply an accidental tire burst. Others claimed that Israel was wiretapping phones.

At that moment, a flood of messages suddenly broke through the patchy phone service and appeared on my screen: similar incidents had occurred in the south and east of Lebanon.

As I went out, an old woman came towards me.

“Young man, can you please help me turn off my phone?” she asked, explaining that she was afraid it might explode.

After she turned off her phone, I heard one young man yell at another, “Dude, throw away your device!” An ambulance turned on its siren and sped away.

“A new phase in the war”

I had been on these streets the night before. Dahiyeh is usually full of friends and neighbors hanging out in the shops, cafes and restaurants. But then it was quiet and dark, scarred by the violent disruption earlier in the day.

Now a new attack has increased the fear even further.

It quickly became clear that this time it was not the pagers that exploded, but the handheld radios that are also used by Hezbollah members.

The explosion near me occurred in the middle of the crowd, next to an ambulance, as a victim of the previous attack was being taken out for burial ceremonies.

#BREAK Footage of a radio explosion in Lebanon today. pic.twitter.com/REfIeJofGA

— Clash Report (@clashreport) 18 September 2024

At the moment, everyone seemed to be trying to escape and get through to their loved ones.

When I reached a main road, the scene was even more chaotic, with fleeing cars colliding with ambulances and fire trucks trying to get in the opposite direction.

“I’m just going to check if my family is okay,” a man who had fled the funeral told me, explaining that his relatives lived in a building where Hezbollah members often stayed.

According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, 25 people were killed and 604 injured in the second wave of attacks on Wednesday. The first wave of attacks on Tuesday left 12 people dead, including two children, and nearly 3,000 injured.

Israel, which is widely considered to be the perpetrator of the attack, has so far remained very silent. At the end of the day, a high-ranking Israeli official finally made a statement:

“We are opening a new phase of the war,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.