Priest recounts how Hezbollah pagers exploded in Lebanon

On the afternoon of September 17, Fr. Marwan Ghanem, director of the Benevolent Association Nusroto Al-Anashid and from the Lebanese Brotherhood of Prisons, was heading to Beirut for a medical appointment. Before reaching his destination, he witnessed some of the pager explosions (also known as pagers o beepers) that shook the country.

Helping three injured

In an exclusive interview with ACI Mena—EWTN News’ news agency for the Arab world—Fr. Ghanem recounted his experience. He was driving through the Ghobeiry district on his way to his appointment when he stopped to ask a motorcyclist for directions. Suddenly, he heard a faint crack and the motorcyclist fell toward the priest’s car, bleeding from his stomach. Fr. Ghanem’s shirt was also stained with blood.

Shortly after, another motorcycle crashed into the back of the priest’s car and the injured driver fell to the ground. Fr Ghanem was shocked as he had not heard any sound of an air raid or shelling in the area. All he could see was people falling around him and lying in pools of blood. At that time, a large number of pager devices owned by Hezbollah members had exploded.

The priest, dressed in his black clerical habit, helped transport three injured people to cars taking them to nearby hospitals. He then continued driving and saw dozens of injured people heading to the Sahel Hospital in Ghobeiry, with wounds to their stomachs, hands, faces and eyes.

Due to widespread panic, another car crashed into the rear of Fr. Ghanem’s vehicle. The rear and left windows of his car were damaged and, in the priest’s eyes, the scene was a river of blood.

The face of Christ in the wounded

Father Ghanem explained that when he went out to help the three wounded, he did not pay attention to whether they were Muslims or Christians. Instead, he recognized “the face of Christ wounded on the road.” In such terrible circumstances, he commented, there is no distinction between a Christian and a Muslim, but rather we are all human, created in the image of God.

The Maronite priest added that he had fulfilled God’s will by helping the wounded. Even if he had only been able to take them to the hospital, he had managed to help them instead of leaving them bleeding on the road. He stated that he considers it a sin not to help the injured. He also noted that when he got out of his car, the fear no longer existed: courage prompted him to help.

A miraculous escape

Fr Ghanem also revealed that after the incident he wondered what God wanted from him as he had miraculously escaped the explosions. The doctor I was visiting had a pager in his office that had exploded, but the doctor was unharmed because he was in the next room. In an adjacent office, someone was injured and died. Father Ghanem believed that if he had been in the doctor’s office, he would have been injured as well. He thanked God for the long journey that delayed his arrival and said he felt God’s grace had protected him, wishing him to continue his work in prisons and other humanitarian activities.

The priest expressed that he considers all parties involved in the war to be losers. He reassured the distraught Lebanese and asked them to review their relationship with God, who does not abandon anyone.

How did pagers explode?

The Hezbollah pager explosions killed 12 people and injured nearly 2,800 more, according to Lebanon’s acting health minister, Firas Abiad.

Two analyzes emerged about the cause of the explosions: one suggested that Israel had booby-trapped Hezbollah pagers before importing them; the other suggests wave interference and heating of the batteries.

The day after the explosions of these devices, they also exploded throughout Lebanon walkie-talkies belonging to members of Hezbollah.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in ACI Mena.