Children of Conflict - Part Two: Lebanon

Report

Around the world, millions of children are the unheard voices of war. And the horrors they witness today will inform the adults they become tomorrow. Will they grow up to be the next leaders, teachers, freedom fighters or terrorists?

Children of Conflict is a four-part series which explores the lives of children whose lives are blighted by growing up in conflict zones. Nadene Ghouri goes in search of what the past has created and what the future holds for these young people.

She travels to Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lebanon but begins her journey in Gaza, where she meets children growing up in an environment of frequent violence and constant economic depression.

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PART TWO: Lebanon

The town of Qana has become synonomous with Lebanon's tragedy. Believed to be the site where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine, the town has earned infamy for two massacres of children 10 years apart. The first attack came in 1996, when Israel bombed a UN base sheltering 800 people – most of them children. Over 100 children were killed or maimed.

The second massacre was during last year's war on Lebanon. A rocket hit a house where several families had taken shelter in the basement. It collapsed – burying the children in rubble. Seventeen were killed. The images of children being carried from the rubble, looking as though they were sleeping, horrified the world.

The film goes back to find the survivors of the first massacre - now teenagers – to find that although most of them have rebuilt their lives, last summer's slaughter devastated them emotionally. And there are extraordinary parallels between the two stories.

In 1996, three year old Hussein Belhas was believed dead, and was put in a morgue freezer. Remarkably, he was discovered alive and was rescued. Now 13, a composed Hussein says: "I am the boy who died, and then came back to life. This was my destiny." Still suffering horribly from his injuries (his leg was blown off at the kneecap and has grown back as a twisted stick), Hussein will require medical treatment for the rest of his life: "When I try to play football, it hurts me. I stay awake all night with the pain."

His truly incredible story sits alongside that of Hasan Shalhoub, just four years old. In the massacre of 2006, Hasan lost his sister Zeinab, who was seven. Also believed dead, Hasan was left over-night in a makeshift morgue. "In the morning I woke up. I started talking to a little girl next to me, but she turned out to be dead. Then I asked for my mother."

Too young to fully realise the extent of his dramatic escape, Hasan says: "I was only injured a little bit in my head. I am fine now."

Production

Categories

Categories: Documentary / People

Channels: Documentaries , Social Media

Tags: massacre jazeera islam children qana lebanon israel un war

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