'Most terrifying day of my life': Lebanese-American journalist on Israel strikes

[0:00] one of the deadliest attacks in decades. Lebanon reeling from the Israeli strikes that killed hundreds yesterday despite this ongoing fragile [0:07] ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. So our next guest is a Lebanese-American journalist who was sheltering in place during the attacks. [0:15] She says yesterday was the most terrifying day of her life with strikes across Beirut hitting residential buildings. Many people without any warning. [0:23] Rania Kalik is a journalist at Breakthrough News joins us now from Beirut, Lebanon. Rania, great to see you. Glad to see that you are safe. [0:30] So just talk to us about what you personally experienced yesterday during those strikes. [0:39] It was, like you said, the most terrifying day of my life. And I think for most of Beirut, I think this is a day that's being called Black Wednesday [0:45] because the Israelis, with 50 of their warplanes, dropped 160 bombs in the course of 10 minutes across Lebanon, [0:55] much of them in Beirut, across Beirut in areas where nobody received warnings. [1:00] These are residential buildings in very densely populated neighborhoods that up until then had been considered safe. [1:06] The Israelis claimed they were hitting Hezbollah targets. But from what I saw, they were hitting, [1:12] they hit a pharmacy that actually killed a distant relative of mine. They hit a funeral and destroyed [1:19] graves at a cemetery. They hit a school that was housing just internally displaced people. [1:24] They hit luxury high-rise buildings in central Beirut. It was just utterly shocking devastation. [1:32] There were strikes near me. It was so scary. And I just, I spent hours hearing ambulances going by [1:38] and just wondering, you know, is this going to happen on my street? Is this going to happen in the building next to me? [1:43] Is it going to happen in my building? And just feeling incredibly helpless. [1:47] And again, hearing the idea that Israel was hitting Hezbollah targets when in front of my eyes, [1:53] all around me, all I saw, all I heard was devastation against civilians of Beirut, [1:59] which is not a front line. The front line of the fight in Lebanon is in the south. [2:02] In your view, from your vantage point, it was not Hezbollah targets that were under attack. [2:09] Absolutely not. When I see a mosque hit near me, when I see, again, residential buildings full of [2:16] people, including people I know, you know, people telling me the building in front of them, [2:21] the building behind them, the building next to them, all hit in areas that are supposed to be safe. [2:26] There's no war happening here. People are just living out their daily lives. [2:30] There's people strolling in their neighborhoods, people getting killed, sitting in traffic. [2:35] These are Hezbollah targets. This was wanton destruction of civilians in densely populated [2:41] central Beirut. Completely unacceptable, completely indiscriminate, and just terrorizing the entire country. [2:47] You mentioned, Rania, one of your family members was somewhere where these threats were. [2:51] Are they okay? How is your family doing now? [2:55] I mean, my family is thankfully, you know, mostly okay. I heard this is a distant relative I heard about today. [3:01] There was a strike in a pharmacy that isn't far from, you know, where a lot of my family is [3:06] situated. Not a Hezbollah stronghold, as they call it, just a pharmacy. And by the way, this was, you [3:12] know, most of Israel's attack has been framed as against the Shia population of Lebanon. [3:16] Not that that's okay, but this was an attack on every single sect across the country. [3:21] Christian, Druze, and Sunni and Shia Muslim were all attacked yesterday. [3:25] This is being seen increasingly in Lebanon, not as a war on Hezbollah, but a war on the country as a whole. [3:31] And I'll tell you right now, the entire country of Lebanon is being reminded of what Israel does to [3:37] Lebanon. And if Israel wants to live in a neighborhood securely, the way to do it isn't by terrorizing your [3:42] neighbor in this indiscriminate, horrific way. [3:46] Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said today that they're open to these talks to stop the airstrikes. [3:51] Do you do you take encouragement from that? I'm what do you make of that statement from the [3:57] prime minister? And, you know, are you worried that these strikes will continue? [4:03] Look, Lebanon's an incredibly defined divided country. And since this war escalated, the Lebanese [4:09] government, which is represent, which isn't representing the entire country right now. [4:13] The Lebanese government has been trying, begging Israel for direct negotiations without preconditions. [4:18] And now the Israelis are taking them up on it after basically saying no before, because it seems [4:22] they're trying to undermine the potential of Lebanon being included in a ceasefire with [4:27] Iran. I think this has more to do with geopolitical maneuvering between the Iranians and Americans [4:32] more than it does between Lebanon and Israel. But just to be clear, Israel will stop, isn't going to [4:38] stop its fire before these negotiations. It doesn't even seem to be on the table. What's on the table [4:42] is the idea of forcing Lebanon to use the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah first and foremost, [4:48] which would essentially start a civil war in Lebanon. And that's what Israel has been [4:51] threatening the Lebanese with. They're saying, if you don't kill each other for us, we will kill you. [4:58] That is what they mean when they want to force the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah. Hezbollah [5:02] represents a huge chunk of Lebanon's population, like it or not. And they're armed because they're [5:08] fighting against the occupation of their land in the south. And if you use the Lebanese army to try to [5:12] disarm them, you're going to cause destabilization and civil strife and civil war across the country. [5:19] Ronnie Collick, great to get your perspective from there in Beirut. Thanks so much for your time today.