Despite the reduction in the intensity of hostilities and repeated announcements of ceasefires and de-escalation efforts, the situation in southern Lebanon remains fragile. Israeli military operations and insecurity continue to affect communities, with people still being killed and injured and many families unable to return to normal life. In areas such as Nabatiyeh, which experienced extensive destruction during the conflict, communities continue to live with the consequences of war while trying to recover and rebuild.
Dr. Aqsa Durrani, physician, epidemiologist and Board President of MSF USA, has extensive frontline experience responding to conflict and emergencies, including in Gaza, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone. She spent six weeks at Al Najdeh Hospital in Nabatiyeh during the recent escalation, where she treated severely injured patients and witnessed attacks affecting civilians and emergency responders.
Transcript of interview with Dr. Durrani
"My name is Dr. Aqsa Durrani, and for the past six weeks, I've been working in Najdeh Hospital in Nabatiyeh southern Lebanon. Earlier this week, we received two injured patients due to a drone strike nearby. They were brought in by an ambulance, and our understanding was that the ambulance that brought them was the second ambulance that tried to reach them, and the first ambulance was actually struck and were not able to reach the patients themselves.
So when the second ambulance was able to reach them, they brought a father and son into the emergency, and I understand from the family that they were going to their home to collect some things to try to adjust to life outside of their home and in the area where they are displaced, and when they reached near their home, they saw a rock in the road. The son got out to move the rock, and as the son was moving the rock, there was an attack on the car, and the father was severely injured. When the father was brought into the emergency room, he was already critically ill, had several injuries on his head, and was just covered in blood.
