HERMEL, Lebanon — Snow-covered fields and welcoming smiles give the town of Hermel a pleasant vibe. There was a time when archaeological caves and rafting adventures attracted tourists to this otherwise remote northern corner of Lebanon. Not anymore.
These days it’s suicide bombers and missiles seeking out Hermel.
Militants have fired 190 ground-to-ground missiles on Hermel in the past six months alone, according to local authorities. And in the past three weeks, two suicide bombers have rocked the population of just 40,000.
“Daily life has changed completely. Everyone is afraid,” said pharmacist Ali Shaheen, 41, as he worked to repair his damaged store. It was badly hit in a suicide bombing on Jan. 16. “I worry what is going to happen to my children. I am scared to stock the pharmacy like I did before. No one knows what is going to happen here. Now we all just buy what we need day by day.”
To date, the strikes and suicide bombings have killed 10 civilians, not including the two suicide bombers. About 75 more have been injured, meaning more than one in every 500 Hermel citizens has been a casualty. Countless more have endured property damage and, much worse, the loss of friends and family members. Some only discovered their loss after searching through hospital beds and rows of corpses.
It’s hard to understand just how high those numbers are when viewed in isolation. So to put those odds into perspective: During the same time period, three suicide bombings hit Lebanon’s capital, claiming at least nine lives and injuring about 120. That’s roughly one in every 15,500 Beirutians. In Baghdad, which had its deadliest month since 2008, those killed or injured amounted to about one in every 9,000 citizens, according to UN figures.
And the rate is almost impossible to compare to the United States, where in 2012, for example, seven people died in terrorist attacks in a nation of well over 300 million, accordingto a report publicized by CNN. That’s about one American in 45 million killed in 2012 (a year when worldwide terrorist attacks and fatalities hit a record high).
Even expanding those numbers to Americans killed either at home or abroad, the comparison is stark: according to research documented by Reason magazine, in the five-year period between 2006 and 2011, the chances of a US citizen dying in a terrorist attack either domestic or foreign, both within the United States and abroad, was one in 20 million. The majority of those included in this calculation died while on duty in Iraq or Afghanistan.
