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Lebanon Children Invisible Wounds
Hassan Mikdad, holds his son Hussein Mikdad, 4, who was injured on Oct. 2 in an Israeli airstrike at a densely-populated neighborhood south of Beirut, as he cries during a check up by his doctor at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC), in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Traumatized by war, hundreds of Lebanon's children struggle with wounds both physical and emotional

Four-year-old Hussein Mikdad survived an Israeli airstrike on his home in a Beirut suburb last month

By SARAH EL DEEB and MALAK HARB
Published - Nov 11, 2024, 02:48 PM ET
Last Updated - Dec 16, 2024, 05:31 PM EST

BEIRUT (AP) — Curled up in his father ’s lap, clinging to his chest, Hussein Mikdad cried his heart out. The 4-year-old kicked his doctor with his intact foot and pushed him away with the arm that was not in a cast. “My Dad! My Dad!" Hussein said. "Make him leave me alone!” With eyes tearing up in relief and pain, the father reassured his son and pulled him closer.

Hussein and his father, Hassan, are the only survivors of their family after an Israeli airstrike last month on their Beirut neighborhood. The strike killed 18 people, including his mother, three siblings and six relatives.

“Can he now shower?” the father asked the doctor.

Ten days after surgery, doctors examining Hussein's wounds said the boy is healing properly. He has rods in his fractured right thigh and stitches that assembled his torn tendons back in place on the right arm. The pain has subsided, and Hussein should be able to walk again in two months — albeit with a lingering limp.

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