Lebanese authorities estimate that 1.2 million people are displaced within the country right now. DW speaks with Arwa Damon of the International Network for Air, Relief, and Assistance, an organization providing medical and mental health care to children in war zones.
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00:00And we can now speak to Arwa Dayman.
00:03She's the president and founder of INARA,
00:05the International Network for Air Relief and Assistance.
00:08She joins us from Beirut.
00:11Arwa, we know that your organization provides medical
00:14and mental health care to children in war zones.
00:17Can you tell us about what you're witnessing
00:19in the South of Beirut right now?
00:25Well, we actually have been working in Lebanon since 2015.
00:29I was based here in my former position, my former life,
00:33sort of as a senior international correspondent for CNN.
00:38And so this is a country that I know very, very well.
00:41And what we are seeing across Beirut
00:45and a lot of these other areas where people are sheltering
00:49is this prevalent fear that continues to chase
00:53and haunt them.
00:55And that is because people here for the last year
00:58have been watching what has been happening in Gaza.
01:01And there is a sense that this is unlike any sort
01:05of Israel-Hezbollah war that has taken place before.
01:10This is not exactly what 2006 was.
01:14And they do feel as if this time around,
01:17it is going to be much more violent.
01:19And in fact, it already has been much more violent
01:22because the death toll has by far surpassed
01:24the Israel-Hezbollah 2006 war.
01:27And they're also well aware of what happened in 2006,
01:31which is what saw the emergence of what's known
01:34as the Dahiyya Doctrine.
01:36Dahiyya being the South Beirut Hezbollah stronghold.
01:40And the Dahiyya Doctrine is a Israeli military strategy
01:44that effectively calls for causing maximum civilian harm,
01:48be that harm to critical infrastructure
01:52or harm to civilians themselves.
01:54The logic being that the civilian population
01:56will then turn against the entity
01:58with whom Israel is going to war.
02:01But if we look at what happened post 2006,
02:03Hezbollah emerged even stronger than before.
02:06And it quite simply, many will say,
02:08is a strategy that just doesn't work.
02:09But it is a strategy right now that the Lebanese
02:12are very, very much on the receiving end of.
02:16Well, as the Israeli army targets this Hezbollah stronghold
02:21in the South of Beirut, it is calling on civilians
02:24to evacuate from the area.
02:27But is it even possible for families
02:29to get to safety in the city?
02:32Well, that's what's becoming increasingly difficult
02:34because the shelters are completely full.
02:37There's no infrastructure to be able to adequately house,
02:41feed and provide for all of those who have been fleeing.
02:44We're talking about, you know,
02:45around a quarter of the population here,
02:471.2 million people that have come under evacuation order.
02:51And we as aid organizations, I mean, we're just,
02:53we're scrambling.
02:55You receive supplies.
02:57We received, you know, hundreds of mattresses
02:59and we went out and, you know, they're gone in a day
03:02because the need is so great.
03:03And it's so widespread all over all of the country,
03:06especially when it comes to some of the sort of harder
03:10to reach areas like the Bekaa Valley,
03:11where I was earlier today trying to get mattresses
03:16to a couple of locations there.
03:17And one was a town that was housing 3,000
03:21internally displaced people,
03:22but they actually only had 300 mattresses.
03:26So we were able to sort of supplement that a little bit,
03:28but the bottom line is, I mean, no,
03:29people don't necessarily feel safe in the locations
03:32that they are fleeing to because there have been bombings
03:34in areas where they would have thought
03:36that they would be safe.
03:37And also because shelter and humanitarian assistance,
03:41the whole system hasn't really sort of settled
03:44and begun functioning the way that it is meant to function
03:47because the space and the resources
03:49quite simply aren't there.
03:51Well, even before this conflict,
03:53Lebanon was facing enormous problems,
03:56including a government that was not functional.
03:59So is there anyone who can offer help
04:02and protect the people of Lebanon?
04:04And how can the international community
04:07perhaps support the Lebanese government?
04:11Well, when it comes to protecting the people of Lebanon
04:14from Israel, many here will tell you
04:16that there's only one country that can actually do that.
04:19And that is the United States actually,
04:21using what needs to be done, using real pressure points
04:25to sort of rein in Israel's bombing campaign
04:30across this entire country and try to push forward
04:32some kind of a political resolution to all of this.
04:34There is no entity inside Lebanon
04:36that can actually guarantee the safety
04:38of the Lebanese people.
04:39And it's not lost on anyone that Hezbollah
04:42falls outside of the armed forces
04:45of the Lebanese government,
04:46and yet is significantly, significantly stronger
04:49than the Lebanese army itself.
04:51But irrespective of that,
04:55there really is this sense that right now
04:57it's the Lebanese that have to stand up
04:59and come together for the Lebanese.
05:01And this is something that has been a bitter reality
05:03for decades now, really, to a certain extent.
05:06But especially in the last five years,
05:07look, I've been coming to Lebanon constantly.
05:09I was actually based here for years.
05:12I've been coming in and out since 2003,
05:14but especially over the last five years,
05:16I've kind of watched the light ebb out of the eyes
05:19of this population that is so much better known
05:22for its sort of joie de vivre and ability
05:25to withstand anything,
05:26because you had the 2015 complete
05:28and total economic collapse.
05:30You had the vast majority of the population's savings
05:33basically stolen by a corrupt political elite.
05:36You had the 2020 Beirut port blast.
05:38You had COVID, and now you have this.
05:41And it's basically, as a friend of mine was messaging me,
05:44especially after the Pedro and walkie-talkie attacks,
05:47she said, I mean, Arwa, what is this?
05:49This is like science fiction.
05:50We're in purgatory.
05:53That was Arma Damon, president and founder of Inara,
05:55the international network for air relief and assistance.
05:59Thank you so much for all of your insights.