By Tuesday afternoon, the wails of Beirut not only resounded from rooftops and balconies, but echoed from kitchens, living rooms, hospitals, and coffee houses. Emergency vehicles sped past terrified pedestrians, who were caught between calling loved ones and discarding their electronic devices altogether. Doctors and parents disconnected their baby monitors and pagers, fearing that even their everyday electronics had turned into potential bombs. Misinformation spread quickly as panic set in, marking a psychological shift in the way citizens regarded their technology.
The attacks, which killed 37 people including two children and left around 3,000 wounded, brought disbelief among the Lebanese citizenry. It was not merely the scale of the bombing that shocked them, but the pervasive threat of technology that had become intertwined with daily life. The specter of a simple pager or a supposedly innocuous electronic device transforming into a weapon incited a widespread state of fear, leading many to question which devices in their homes could be tampered with to cause harm.
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