Lebanon is tackling a sharp increase in the visually impaired population following the fatal Israeli posing attack in September 2024, leaving hundreds of visually impaired people, including men, women and children.
The attack, widely accused of a war crime, has resulted in widespread civilian casualties and mass injuries.
Disabled rights activist Ibrahim Abdullah said those injured in the attack joined Lebanon’s estimated 15,000 to 17,000 blind people, with at least 8,000 people officially registered, New Arab reported.
Speaking to Lebanon’s daily al-Akbar, Abdullah said the surge in visual impairments has made Lebanon one of the world’s highest per capita blindness rates.
The pager attack was particularly devastating due to its deceptive nature. The device reportedly fired a notification alert designed to attract attention. The victim instinctively held the pager close to his face to inspect the message – at which point the device exploded.
The proximity of the blast caused terrible facial damage, causing rap shotguns torn into the victim’s eyes, resulting in blindness and permanent disability.
“Their intentions were clear – causing as much harm as possible,” Abdullah said. “The device is designed to explode when held at eye level, which means that we have seen a huge number of cases of severe visual impairment.”