Hezbollah-affiliated network Al-Mayadeen broadcast a special program dedicated to the pager explosions in Lebanon, which took place last September and were attributed to Israel.
The program, titled “The Pager Massacre – Here’s What Happened,” included interviews with three select individuals who were injured in the pager operation. The episode was accompanied by a melancholic soundtrack, dotted with clips from Nasrallah’s speech following the incident, which incidentally became his last one, in addition to scenes edited by Hezbollah’s outlets, showing their terrorists shooting rockets in civilian attire.
Hussein al-Harakeh, who appears to be a member of the terrorist organization and whose face, eyes, and fingers were damaged during the attack, was the first interviewee of the program. During the interview, he said he was in the middle of a meeting “at work” around noon when he heard that there was an airstrike in the village of Bleida and that some of the “Shabab” (‘guys’ in Arabic, also refers to terrorists) fell as martyrs.
Harakeh described how he went to see his friend in a hospital and, while sitting with him, he felt the pager beep despite having put it on silent mode. He then took the pager out of his pocket and saw that it said “error.”
“I only read the word, and it exploded. I screamed, and it was hurting, but I had no idea how significant the injury was,” he added.
Harakeh’s ties to Hezbollah are evident from his stories later on in the program, as he described a conversation he had with Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa. “I told him after the attack that I hope that the Sayyed (Hassan Nasrallah) is well. But after he died, I was in great agony.”
Amid scenes of himself walking around graves and pictures of Hezbollah’s “martyrs,” Harakeh mentioned that he had held the same position or role for over 17 years without mentioning any further details as to where exactly.
“After the injury, I can’t carry on with my job anymore,” he explained. “You can’t see this job as a normal one. It’s a job that’s filled with blood and injuries. The Sayyed (Nasrallah) would say that this is a difficult and painful road, and it’s not easy to remain part of it.”
Harakeh also shared some insights regarding Israel. “They paint it as a victory, but it’s just treachery,” he opined, adding that Israel’s army is large enough to take over the entire Middle East but that they were halted by a handful of thousands of Hezbollah militiamen, proving its weakness.
Children at the front
For the program, Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen also interviewed two children, both injured during the incident, perhaps in an attempt to challenge the reports that the vast majority of those impacted by the pager incident were Hezbollah and IRGC operatives.
“My father put down the pager and went to his room,” said Hussein Duheini, a boy around 10 years old, whose face and hands were injured in the explosion. “It started beeping weirdly. I went to bring it to him. I saw that it said ‘error,’ and it exploded.”
Duheini, who earned the title of “wounded hero” from Hezbollah and who stars in online videos reciting religious passages as a child prodigy, attempted to convey a message of victory. “I told my father it’s a test, that if it were him – he wouldn’t have been able to keep on doing his work. This does not make us weaker,” he concluded.
Ali Abbas, around 8 years old, was interviewed wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh. His eyes and fingers were also injured.
“The pager was right by the TV in a high place. It fell, and I wanted to catch it. I stood in front of the TV, and it exploded and damaged the TV as well,” he told the interviewer. “It showed a weird sign. It said I should press on two arrows. I pressed it, and it said ‘press OK.’ Once I did that, it exploded.”
Abbas, too, had strong opinions about Israel. “They only want to kill and occupy. They are like the spider’s web,” he said, echoing the words of assassinated Hezbollah leader Nasrallah. “They are treacherous and cowardly.”
Abbas continued, attempting to find some meaning and silver linings. “This is a war, and this is how it affected me,” he said. “Praise to Allah that I’m not dead but only injured… I’ll learn to cope with it. Then I’ll go and fight Israel.”