How the port explosion rubbed raw Beirut’s psychological scars

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The destroyed silo in Beirut’s port stands as a symbol of the devastation across the Lebanese capital following the August explosion. (AFP)
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Updated 08 November 2020
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How the port explosion rubbed raw Beirut’s psychological scars

  • Months on from the port explosion, Lebanese struggle to deal with adversity and despair in the absence of accountability
  • Mental-health workers tell of explosion’s lasting impact, made worse by coronavirus restrictions and economic calamity

BEIRUT: Almost half a century since Lebanon became embroiled in civil war, bullet-scarred buildings stand throughout Beirut as reminders of the city’s darker times alongside glistening towers signifying hope and renewal. And yet, like some great historical leveling, the port blast of Aug. 4 has indiscriminately left its scars on the city’s skyline, paying little heed to a building’s age or appearance.

The situation at ground level is scarcely any different. Beirut’s battered streets are a veritable metaphor for the emotional wounds of its people as they pick over the ruins of their economy, enduring constant power cuts and a new wave of coronavirus infections. The government is widely seen as ineffective and apathetic to demands for change.

“The physical wounds heal but the emotional ones take much longer to heal — I am not sure how we will ever get over what happened without justice,” said Ibana Carapiperis, 24, a volunteer with the Lebanese Red Cross, recalling the summer’s day when nearly 3,000 tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrate caught fire. The resulting blast killed 204 and left around 6,500 injured. Public outcry forced the government of Hassan Diab to resign.

“My emotions are still very hard to process from that day. Every time I try and understand my emotions, I feel like I could break at any minute. The blast is still so fresh after three months. It feels like it was yesterday,” Carapiperis added.

Oct. 17 marked one year since the “thawra” — or “revolution” in Arabic — when thousands of Lebanese took to the streets to demand political and economic change, forcing Prime Minister Saad Hariri to stand down. Yet the mood was different when they returned this year — dimmed by months of grinding hardship and defeat.

Many thawra hard-liners did not even attend. “What thawra?” asked one.

“We need unity, we need a leader. We are lost now,” said another.




Volunteers of Medecins du Monde's (MDM) mental health program take a picture on August 11, 2020 of the clock that stopped due to the August 4 blast (18:08) in one of the damaged houses of the Lebanese capital's Karantina district. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

And just a few days after the revolution’s commemoration, when Mustapha Adib failed to win support for his non-partisan cabinet, Lebanon’s political class chose to return Hariri to office — compounding the revolutionaries’ sense of powerlessness. On Oct. 21, purported Hariri supporters even set fire to the “Revolution Fist” sculpture in Martyrs’ Square. It was quickly replaced the following morning by activists who refused to give up.

“What gives me hope is to know that people are still fighting every day, going to the streets to continue the revolution to try and change the system,” said Carapiperis. “This is not something we can just get over in a few days, weeks or months.”

Her diagnosis is corroborated by colleagues. “Not all wounds are visible, whether to a body or a beloved city,” said Marco Baldan, a Red Cross surgeon who helped coordinate the emergency response, in a statement. “On top of the horrific physical injuries that are being treated in hospitals, people risk developing huge, hidden scars unless they are supported through the psychological consequences of this catastrophe. Mental health support is a vital part of the medical response.”




Talal Merhi, a resident of the badly-affected Karantina neighborhood of the Lebanese capital, speaks to the director of Medecins du Monde's (MDM) mental health program on August 11, 2020 at his damaged home. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

The explosion occurred when Lebanon was already in a state of hopelessness, following months in the grip of the COVID-19 outbreak and economic turmoil. People had lost jobs, businesses and savings; the situation contributed to a rise in depression, suicidal thoughts and despair among the population.

“People are mentally not okay,” Rona Halabi, a Red Cross spokesperson in Beirut, told Arab News. “There were at least 300,000 people who lost their homes so you can only imagine the stress that this has caused. We believe mental health is as important as physical health.

“After being injured physically, wounds will start to heal eventually, but what you will remember of this terrible incident will never go away. People need to learn tools to cope with the trauma and move on with their lives.”

Mental health workers say survivors are still far from okay — made worse by the loneliness of coronavirus restrictions.

“Once the pandemic started, anti-coronavirus measures like lockdown and curfew hit people’s traditional coping mechanisms, such as gathering socially and seeing friends, sharing their worries and frustrations,” said Isabel Rivera Marmolejo, the mental health delegate for the Red Cross in Lebanon. “Now, the explosion is one more crushing blow.”

LEBANON IN NUMBERS

At 155%, Lebanon’s debt-GDP ratio is the world’s third highest.

Public debt projected to touch 167% in 2021.

Inflation was expected to average 20% in 2020.

A special hotline was established after the blast to help people dealing with trauma in place of face-to-face counselling. However, even Lebanese psychologists who experienced the blast say they have been affected.

“Lebanese psychologists are also struggling with the trauma,” Myrna Gannage, psychology department director at Beirut’s Saint Joseph University, told Arab News.

She suffered non-life threatening injuries in the blast, but remains troubled by her experience. “I never in my life saw anything like this,” she said. “We as Lebanese have lost our sense of mental equilibrium. We are still lost. There is a lack of hope and a constant fear of uncertainty in the Lebanese people.”

Gannage added: “The Beirut explosions reactivated psychological wounds from the civil war. We are very fragile right now.”

So, how do you help people who have lost hope? “We must guide them to use their own individualistic resources,” said Gannage. “Lebanese society does not offer anything for the people — people are left to rely on their own means of survival. It is not easy to help people today. As psychologists we can listen to people as much as possible, but even we don’t have the same hope that we once did.”




Noelle Jouane, director of Medecins du Monde's (MDM) mental health program in Beirut is pictured in the field in the Lebanese capital's Karantina district on August 11, 2020. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

Largely forced to fend for themselves, many Beirut residents simply need time to come to terms with what has happened and to find healthy ways to keep their minds occupied.

“I encouraged people to keep moving and to stick to routines and not to expect high levels of productivity from themselves,” said Gisele Chaine, a Lebanese psychologist with the Red Cross.

“People needed to go back slowly to everyday life. The people I am still speaking with over the phone are having less symptoms linked to trauma now, such as nightmares, lack of productivity and low concentration.”

It often depends on the level of individual resilience. “Sometimes, all they needed was someone to talk to. They needed to have a safe space over the phone,” Chaine said.

Perhaps a glimmer of hope lies in the numerous non-governmental organizations and support groups that were established in the wake of the blast. Many Lebanese, it seems, are finding a sense of purpose in helping to rebuild their community, even in the absence of government support. But then again, many others are choosing to leave the country to escape the trauma and the deepening economic malaise.




Clinical psychologist Mia Atwi, co-founder of Embrace, a suicide prevention helpline, reads emails in the Lebanese capital Beirut on July 13, 2018. (Photo by Anwar AMRO / AFP)

“Some families are still in the mountains and haven’t yet been able to go back to their houses in Beirut for fear of being in their damaged homes and being close to the site of the explosion,” said Mia Atwi, a clinical psychologist and co-founder of Embrace, a suicide prevention helpline launched in 2013.

“There’s a lot of hopelessness, there’s a lot of despair. There are many people who have been working on leaving Lebanon. On the phone you hear people that are anxious, depressed, hopeless and feeling unsafe and feeling very confused.”

For many Lebanese, closure will only be found once some kind of justice and accountability is achieved.

“Part of the healing process for most of us is to have social justice,” said Atwi. “This is not an event you can heal from using only trauma therapy. The explosions were a political event as well. They are the result of the incompetence of the government that we are living under. We need to know who was responsible for this and hold them accountable.”

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Twitter: @rebeccaaproctor


Israeli settlers hold wedding ceremony inside Al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection

Updated 4 sec ago
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Israeli settlers hold wedding ceremony inside Al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection

  • The Jerusalem Governorate deemed the move ‘provocative and humiliating’

LONDON: Israeli authorities permitted a wedding engagement ceremony for Jewish settlers within the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Old City of East Jerusalem on Monday.

The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate deemed the move “provocative and humiliating,” describing it as a transformation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque into what resembles a public hall for celebrations by extremist settlers.

“(This is) a flagrant violation of the sanctity of the mosque, a serious provocation of the feelings of Muslims, and a deliberate attempt to impose a new reality that erases the Islamic identity of the site and paves the way for its division temporally and spatially,” the Jerusalem Governorate said.

On Monday, settlers, accompanied by Israeli police, toured the Al-Aqsa compound. Police prevented Palestinians from approaching the settlers to disrupt the ceremony, according to the Wafa news agency.

The Jerusalem Governorate said that Israeli policies aim to impose sovereignty on Al-Aqsa Mosque, stressing that these repeated provocations contradict international law and the 2016 UNESCO resolution, which recognized Al-Aqsa Mosque as an Islamic heritage site and called for its preservation.

Since 1967, the Jerusalem Endowments Council, which operates under Jordan’s Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, has been the legal authority responsible for managing and regulating the affairs of Al-Aqsa.

However, this status quo has been challenged in recent years by extremist settlers who regularly tour the site under the protection of Israeli police and are often accompanied by government officials and far-right ministers and activists.


UK MPs demand Ukraine-style visa route for Gazans

Updated 59 min 17 sec ago
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UK MPs demand Ukraine-style visa route for Gazans

  • Letter to PM: ‘The same generosity should be extended to Palestinian families’
  • Death toll ‘likely to be exponentially higher’ than official figure due to collapse of local govt, health systems

LONDON: MPs in the UK are calling on the government to launch a visa system for Palestinians in Gaza with family already living in Britain.

Sixty-seven politicians have written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper asking for a Gaza Family Scheme mirroring the Ukraine Family Scheme established in 2022 to help refugees escape the war with Russia. It allowed Ukrainians to live and work in the UK for up to three years.

“We believe that the same generosity should be extended to Palestinian families,” said the letter, seen by Sky News.

Signatories include 35 Labour MPs and members of the House of Lords, as well as several people currently suspended from the governing party, including its former leader Jeremy Corbyn and former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell. 

All four sitting members of the Green Party have also signed, alongside former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and the Bishop of Chelmsford Dr. Guli Francis-Dehquani.

The letter accuses Israel of “shattering the temporary ceasefire agreement” with Hamas in Gaza, and of conducting a “campaign of bombardment and military assaults, and targeting of people accessing humanitarian aid.”

MP Marsha de Cordova, who helped organize the letter alongside the Gaza Families Reunited campaign, told Sky News that the Ukraine visa scheme “was the right response to a brutal war,” and that establishing one for Gazans “would be an extension of those same principles, showing that this government is steadfast in its commitment to helping families experiencing the worst horrors of war.

“It is time for the government to act now to help British Palestinians get their loved ones to safety, enabling them to rebuild their lives.”

The letter said the proposed scheme would let Palestinians reunite with “people they may never see again unless urgent action is taken,” and many Gazans trying to reach the UK “struggled to navigate the immigration system.”

It added that efforts to secure visas have been made “impossible due to the destruction of the visa application centre in Gaza and blockade of the Rafah crossing.”

The letter said the death toll in Gaza, reported by Palestinian authorities as numbering at least 53,000 people, “is likely to be exponentially higher” due to the collapse of local government and health systems in the enclave.

Ghassan Ghaben, spokesperson for Gaza Families Reunited, told Sky News: “Family unity is an undeniable human right.”

He urged more MPs, including Conservatives, to add their names to efforts to help get Palestinians to the UK, saying: “We are still waiting for the new government to do the right thing. We, as Palestinians in the UK, simply want the opportunity to bring our loved ones from Gaza to safety, until it is safe to return.”

A government spokesperson told Sky News: “The death and destruction in Gaza is intolerable. Since day one, we have been clear that we need to see an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages cruelly detained by Hamas, better protection of civilians, significantly more aid consistently entering Gaza, and a path to long-term peace and stability.

“There are a range of routes available for Palestinians who wish to join family members in the UK.”


Israel steps up Gaza bombardment ahead of White House talks on ceasefire

Updated 30 June 2025
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Israel steps up Gaza bombardment ahead of White House talks on ceasefire

  • Israel’s Dermer due in US for talks on Gaza, Iran, wider deals
  • Israeli tanks push into Gaza City suburb, residents say

CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Palestinians in northern Gaza reported one of the worst nights of Israeli bombardment in weeks after the military issued mass evacuation orders on Monday, while Israeli officials were due in Washington for a new ceasefire push by the Trump administration.
A day after US President Donald Trump urged an end to the 20-month-old war, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected at the White House for talks on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran, and possible wider regional diplomatic deals.
But on the ground in the Palestinian enclave there was no sign of fighting letting up.
“Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes,” said Salah, 60, a father of five children, from Gaza City. “In the news we hear a ceasefire is near, on the ground we see death and we hear explosions.”
Israeli tanks pushed into the eastern areas of Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said.
At least 38 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, health authorities said, including 10 people killed in Zeitoun and at least 13 killed southwest of Gaza City. Medics said most of the 13 were hit by gunfire, but residents also reported an airstrike.
The Israeli military said it struck militant targets in northern Gaza, including command and control centers, after taking steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.
There was no immediate word from Israel on the reported casualties southwest of Gaza City.
The heavy bombardment followed new evacuation orders to vast areas in the north, where Israeli forces had operated before and left behind wide-scale destruction. The military ordered people there to head south, saying that it planned to fight Hamas militants operating in northern Gaza, including in the heart of Gaza City.

NEXT STEPS
A day after Trump called to “Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,” Israel’s strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Netanyahu’s, was expected on Monday at the White House for talks on Iran and Gaza, an Israeli official said.
In Israel, Netanyahu’s security cabinet was expected to convene to discuss the next steps in Gaza.
On Friday, Israel’s military chief said the present ground operation was close to having achieved its goals, and on Sunday, Netanyahu said new opportunities had opened up for recovering the hostages, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Palestinian and Egyptian sources with knowledge of the latest ceasefire efforts said that mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up their contacts with the two warring sides, but that no date has been set yet for a new round of truce talks.
A Hamas official said that progress depends on Israel changing its position and agreeing to end the war and withdraw from Gaza. Israel says it can end the war only when Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that Israel has agreed to a US-proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage deal, and put the onus on Hamas.
“Israel is serious in its will to reach a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza,” Saar told reporters in Jerusalem.
Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, speaking in Jerusalem on Monday alongside her Israeli counterpart, told reporters that Vienna was very concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which she described as “unbearable.”
“Let me be frank, the suffering of civilians is increasingly burdening Israel’s relations with Europe. A ceasefire must be agreed upon,” she said, calling for the unconditional release of hostages by Hamas and for Israel to allow the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Israel says it continues to allow aid into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing it. The group denies that accusation and says Israel uses hunger as a weapon against the Gaza population.
The US has proposed a 60-day ceasefire and the release of half the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the remains of other Palestinians. Hamas would release the remaining hostages as part of a deal that guarantees ending the war.
The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 251 hostages back to Gaza in a surprise attack that led to Israel’s single deadliest day.
Israel’s subsequent military assault has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry, displaced almost the whole 2.3 million population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
More than 80 percent of the territory is now an Israeli-militarized zone or under displacement orders, according to the United Nations.


No injuries or pollution after explosion at oil tanker off Libya, says operator

Updated 30 June 2025
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No injuries or pollution after explosion at oil tanker off Libya, says operator

  • The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Vilamoura had left Libya’s Zuetina port and was en route to Gibraltar

ATHENS: An oil tanker carrying about 1 million barrels of crude oil suffered an explosion off Libya on June 27 but no injuries or pollution were reported, a spokesperson for the operator TMS Tankers said on Monday.

The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Vilamoura had left Libya’s Zuetina port and was en route to Gibraltar when there was an explosion in the engine room, the operator said.

The vessel is now being towed to Greece where it is expected to arrive by July 2, it added.


Israel FM says Golan to ‘remain part of’ Israel in any Syria peace deal

Updated 30 June 2025
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Israel FM says Golan to ‘remain part of’ Israel in any Syria peace deal

  • Golan Heights “will remain part of” Israel under any potential peace agreement with Syria, Israel's FM says

JERUSALEM: Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Monday that the occupied Golan Heights “will remain part of” Israel under any potential peace agreement with Syria.
“In any peace agreement, the Golan will remain part of the State of Israel,” Saar told a news conference in Jerusalem, referring to the territory Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognized by the United Nations.