At Lebanon's largest government hospital, health and administrative staff are undergoing training to be prepared if a much-feared full-scale war breaks out between Israel and Hezbollah.
"We are preparing for war," said Bassima Khashfi, a veteran nurse who explained how to distribute the wounded in the event of a sudden influx at Rafik Hariri Hospital in Beirut.
"All employees, from the nursing, medical, administrative and security staff, are undergoing training," she explains: "Based on our current capacities, we are almost ready."
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip on October 7, cross-border exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel have been almost daily, with the pro-Iranian movement claiming to attack Israeli military positions in support of its ally, the Palestinian Hamas.
Fears of an all-out war have been high since the death of a Hezbollah military leader in late July, killed by an Israeli strike in Lebanon, and that of the former Hamas leader in Iran, who accused Israel of assassinating him. The pro-Iranian Hezbollah and Tehran have vowed to retaliate.
"We have been trained to deal with mass casualty incidents and to prepare for the eventuality of a natural disaster or war," said Lamis Dayekh, a 37-year-old nurse.
"If war breaks out, we will be there (...). If I am not in the hospital, I will bring my children with me and I will come," she assures.
– “Not our first war” –
At the public hospital, nurses repeat that they are relatively used to dealing with the influx of patients, whether during the Covid-19 pandemic or various conflicts.
An emergency operations centre has been set up at the Ministry of Health adjacent to the hospital.
"In Lebanon, we always have an emergency plan (...). This is not our first war and we have been ready every time," assures Wahida Ghalayini, who has been running this center since October.
She cites the terrible explosion at the port of Beirut in 2020, which left more than 220 dead and more than 6,500 injured, or the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, during which more than 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians.
Since October, violence has left nearly 600 dead in Lebanon, mostly fighters from the pro-Iranian Hezbollah but also at least 130 civilians, according to an AFP count.
In Israel and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians were killed, according to Israeli authorities.
The plan designed by the Ministry of Health assesses the needs of hospitals, supervises training and also includes a mental health module.
He also coordinates the action of rescue teams and hospitals in southern Lebanon.
– Lessons from Gaza –
Lebanese authorities are relying mainly on donor funding for their emergency plans, as the country has been in the midst of an economic collapse for nearly five years.
"All hospitals need medical equipment, fuel, oxygen," said Wahid Ghalayini, highlighting the state's "financial problems."
With power plants virtually shut down due to lack of public funds, most hospitals are using solar energy, she said, pointing to the panels installed on the roof and parking lot of Rafic Hariri Hospital.
Health Minister Firas Abiad said this week that the country had enough medicines and medical supplies to last at least four months if the war spreads.
The emergency plan prioritized hospitals based on their location. The "red zone" at high risk of Israeli strikes includes Hezbollah strongholds in the south and east of the country, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut.
In the emergency operations center, officials make calls and work on their computers while following news of the war in Gaza in southern Lebanon on giant screens.
"We are following what is happening in Gaza" on the medical level "and we are learning from it," says Wahida Ghalayini, as televisions play images of bloodied patients in the Palestinian territory on a loop.
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