(screaming sound)

- [Chris] This week on Jerusalem Dateline,

the blast that changed a city, a country,

and the Middle East.

(explosion)

It's left the peopleof Lebanon devastated.

- People are feeling despair.

They feel no hope.

They feel that everythingwas stolen from them.

- They're looking foranswers, who's responsible?

And what's next for the city

that was once called theParis of the Middle East.

And a look at what the Bible says

about the country of Lebanon.

All this and more thisweek on Jerusalem Dateline.

Hello and welcome to thisedition of Jerusalem Dateline,

I'm Chris Mitchell.

It's being called Lebanon's 9/11,

the worst one day disaster in its history,

to a country already on the verge

of economic and political collapse.

It's devastated the Lebanese people,

and this catastrophewill have consequences

throughout the Middle East.

Here's a look at the daythat changed Lebanon.

It looked like theexplosion of an atomic bomb.

(loud explosion)

When Lebanese officials said

the aftermath looked likeHiroshima or Nagasaki.

Scenes reminiscent of9/11 filled the port area

and the streets of Beirut's downtown.

Eye witnesses told CBN News,it felt like an earthquake,

and the blast could be heard150 miles away in Cyprus.

It knocked out glass andbuildings for at least five miles.

- And then suddenly weheard a very loud explosion.

The glass shattered all overthe car, the cars around us,

to buildings, all theglass just went down.

It was raining glass allover the city of Beirut.

- [Chris] The blast devastated the port

where most of Lebanon's importsand food enter the country.

The casualties are staggering.

Scores died and thousandswere wounded in the explosion.

Many are still missing,

and bodies are being found in the rubble.

Hospitals are overwhelmed

and the Lebanese government isasking for international help

and medical supplies.

Lebanon's prime minister promised justice

for those responsible.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Translator] What happened today

will not pass without accountability.

Those responsible will paythe price for this disaster.

This is a promise for themurders and the injured.

- [Chris] Lebanon's head ofsecurity said nearly 3000 tons

of ammonium nitrate thathad been stored at the port

for six years exploded.

It came at the worst time,

the blast, a colossal blow to a country

that was already on the brink of collapse

after years of mismanagementand corruption.

The currency has collapsed,their economy was devastated

with one of the worstdebt ratios in the world.

Then COVID-19 hit.

Before the pandemic,

tens of thousands ofLebanese took to the streets

to demand a new government,

and many have already fled the country.

The blast will affectthe wider Middle East,

and questions remain, will thegovernment remain in power,

and how will Lebanon rebuild?

Isaiah the prophet said,

one day, Lebanon wouldbe a fruitful field,

but right now, the Lebaneseare facing more misery.

Church leaders are asking for prayers

for the Lebanese people, asthis Middle East country faces

the toughest time in its history.

Days after the worstdisaster in its history,

Lebanon is struggling to recover.

The catastrophe broughtBeirut's mayor to tears.

- [Translator] This isa disaster for Lebanon.

We don't know how we'regonna get out of it.

We don't know, we could barely survive,

and now we have this disaster.

We have to stay strong, we haveto hold ourselves together,

we have to be brave.

This happened to our people.

(sobs)

- [Chris] The catastrophein front of the mayor

and the people of Beirut is overwhelming.

This aerial video shows the scope

of the destruction to theport and surrounding area.

These before and after satellite images

reveal the extent of the devastation.

To help recover,

nations from around theworld are responding.

Those countries includethe United Arab Emirates,

Russia, Australia, and France.

All of whom are sending,

either supplies or rescue teams or both.

Israel, Lebanon's neighbor to the south

has offered aid and condolences.

Tel Aviv City Hall lit up with the colors

of the Lebanese flag.

On the streets, the damage is everywhere.

One Beirut resident told CBN News,

it looks like years ofdestruction from war

were condensed into one second.

For Lebanese people aroundthe world, it was personal.

Abdullah Dahia in the U.S. lost a friend

who worked as a customs agent at the port.

- This is so sad whatLebanon's going through.

This country has been throughso much over the years,

and now to see this,

it's the last thing that the people want.

- [Chris] Nearly 300,000in Beirut are now homeless,

about 10% of the city's population.

In the midst of the chaos,

Christian ministries likeTriumphant Mercy are reaching out.

- We are tying to bring some food

for the one that are working,cleaning their houses,

cleaning the streets, removing rubbles.

So, they're working day and night.

- [Chris] These LebaneseChristians are asking for prayer

as they reach out with the love of Jesus

while their country copeswith its worst crisis

in its history.

(orchestral music)

Coming up, a look at thepolitical landscape of Lebanon

and how it could change.

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(upbeat music)

- Will there be politicalchange in Lebanon

after this disaster?

That was the promise of Frenchpresident, Emmanuel Macron.

He took to the streets ofBeirut to see the devastation,

and he heard desperate pleasfrom the people of Lebanon,

who at times called himto be their president.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Translator] Please,we need a turnaround,

a change from all the politics

that is so closed off from the people.

We don't know how to reverse it.

You have the power to change that.

Please, help us, help us.

- The first message be,do a proper investigation.

Hold those accountable forthis entire and crisis.

Let Lebanon really stand up on its feet.

- Your anger is my source of optimism.

(woman speaks in foreign language)

(crowd shouting)

- [Chris] Later, Macronaddressed the press

and the political leaders of Lebanon.

(speaking on foreign language)

- [Translator] But beyond the explosion,

we felt this morning, the angerthat there is in the street.

Today, there is apolitical, moral, economic,

and financial crisis,

which has been going on forseveral months, several years,

and this involves strongpolitical initiatives.

We have started to talk about it.

- Lebanon is facing aneconomic and political crisis,

and reportedly, under thestrong arm control of Hezbollah,

it's a country on the brink of disaster.

CBN Middle Eastcorrespondent, Julie Stahl,

shows how the Iranian backed T-ara group

is a major factor behindLebanon's collapse.

- [Julie] Once known as theSwitzerland of the east,

Lebanon is experiencing its worst economic

and societal crisis in modern history.

- Hezbollah is using civilian neighborhood

to stole their weapons.

And as a matter of fact,

they are filing fromcivilian neighborhoods.

They use the civilianneighborhood as a shield.

- [Julie] That's beendocumented numerous times,

which leads to suspicionafter the massive explosion

that rocked Beirut.

- If this is Hezbollah warehouse,which I cannot prove now,

this will be a very seriousallegation against Hezbollah,

and may be more political pressure

that Hezbollah will end it's hold

as a military power in Lebanon.

- [Julie] Adding tosuspicions in a 2016 speech,

Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah laughed

as he talked about blowingup ammonium supplies in Haifa

and murdering Israelis.

He described the possible blast in terms

that were eerily similarto the explosion in Beirut.

- [Translator] The nuclearbomb I'm talking about

is when a couple of our missiles

falling on ammoniumwarehouses in Haifa's port,

will lead to the same effectas that of a nuclear bomb.

When the missiles fall on the warehouses,

in an area with a population of 800,000,

tens of thousands will die.

- And the Hezbollahproblem is not just limited

to the fact that you've gota terrorist organization

funded by Iran with a massive arsenal

of rockets and precision guided munitions

that face Israel,

the problem of Hezbollahis also a financial one.

- [Julie] Jonathan Schanzer

of the foundation for thedefense of democracy says,

Hezbollah's infiltration hascratered the Lebanese economy.

- This includes, money laundering,

terror finance, and corruption.

And basically, Hezbollahhas corrupted and corroded

what was once a vibrant banking center

and is now eating it alive.

And there is indicationsthat the banking sector

is on the verge of collapse.

- [Julie] Religiousloyalties and corruption

also play a part.

- You can't blame itentirely on Hezbollah.

Again, some of this isgood old fashioned greed.

- [Julie] On a recent visit,

the French foreign ministerurged Lebanese leaders

to put needed reforms into place.

And even before COVID,

Lebanese protesters filled the streets

railing against the failingeconomy in their country.

- The Lebanese governmentis barely existing

and things are going from bad to worse.

This bailout that islikely needed for Lebanon

could exceed the largestbailout that we've seen to date,

which is Argentina.

- [Julie] COVID-19 ledto more food shortages,

prompting massive handouts like this one,

organized by a Christian political party

and paid for by a wealthy Lebanese.

Now, more protesters areturning on Hezbollah.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Translator] Our message is heard.

The French and theAmericans are receptive.

They have promised usto work on implementing

the UN security council resolution 1559,

which calls for the removalof all illegal weapons

from Lebanese and none Lebanese malicious,

especially Hezbollah, that hashijacked the Lebanese state.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Translator] Ourmessage is that we respect

the Lebanese constitutionand its implementation

and the implementation of resolution 1559.

And that Iran does not dominate Lebanon.

- [Julie] And since the blast,

the public outcry againstHezbollah has been unprecedented

like this journalist.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Translator] The primarysuspect is Hezbollah

more than anyone else in the world,

because Hezbollah use this port

and all the other Lebanesegovernment facilities

in order to acquire weapons.

Hezbollah has been usingBeirut's international airport,

the Martyr PM RaficHariri Airport for years.

It has also used the Beirutport to transport these weapons.

- [Julie] And the Lebanese army,

which receives financialhelp from the U.S.

has not taken action.

- The Lebanese armed forcesdon't seem to be willing

to counter the Hezbollah forces.

They're not willing to removeany of the 150,000 rockets

that Hezbollah has amassed in the country.

Lately, the Hezbollah has been amassing

an arsenal of precisionguided munitions, or PGMs.

- [Julie] Chancellor says,

the opportunity for Lebanon'speople to drive out Hezbollah

will be when the economy collapses.

The aftermath of the massive explosion

could become the time to act.

Julie Stahl, CBN News, Jerusalem.

(upbeat music)

- [Chris] Coming up,

a look at the personalcost of this disaster

and the relationshipbetween Lebanon and Israel.

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- The explosion has left thepeople of Beirut devastated

and in shock.

Here's Nuna Matar of Triumphant Mercy

describing the situation on the streets.

- People are feelingdespair, they feel no hope.

They feel that everythingwas stolen from them.

The things that they haveworked for their whole life

stolen from them.

It's really denial,

and they try to pretendthat nothing happened.

They try to look like there's nothing.

But I know that inside they'recompletely traumatized.

And so, we here, at Triumphant Mercy,

we're just here to help however we can.

We can a small thing,

if we can just help with removing rubbles.

We are here to make a change.

- To discuss more about thepersonal cost of this disaster,

I talked with our multimediaproducer, Emily Jones,

and CBN Middle Eastcorrespondent, Julie Stahl

in our Jerusalem studio.

Emily, you wrote apowerful article online,

and part of the headline said,

this is what death looks like.

You talked to a friend there in Beirut.

Tell us about your conversation.

- Yeah, those are the wordsthat my friend said to me

when she was explaining what it was like

to be in the center of this catastrophe.

What started out as a normalfamily outing in Beirut,

ended up becoming what shecalls, a nightmare, apocalyptic,

glass falling all around her.

She can't find her husband.

She has a newborn baby.

Thankfully, they're able towalk away with only stitches,

but it just shows the human impact

that this blast had in Beirut.

- Yeah, yeah, and didn'tthey move out of their city

up to the mountains at that time?

- They did, they were afraidof the chemicals in the air

left over after the blast,they have a newborn baby,

so, they left.

They went to the mountains

hoping to get as far away fromthe epicenter as possible.

- And it seems like everyone has a story,

and many of those stories caught on video,

a priest serving mass,

and literally theceiling came down on him.

And then a bride having a photo shoot

and literally knocked over by the blast.

Julie, here in Israel,

how did Israel initiallyrespond to this disaster?

- Israel, usually amongthe first in the world

to offer assistancewhen there's a disaster,

and this was no different.

Even though they have no diplomatic ties,

basically, our country is at war.

So, Israel offered assistance,offered a field hospital,

that's their expertise.

And that hasn't been accepted yet.

I spoke with the defenseministry and they said,

well, we could maybe put one on the border

and take foreign workers,

foreigners that were injured in the blast

could come across the border

and be treated and relievethe system in Lebanon.

- And they have experienced,

that's exactly what they didduring the Syrian civil war.

They set up a hospital

and treated many of the Syrian refugees.

Emily, one other thing thatyou mentioned in your article

was that there's a possibility

of an Exodus of Christians from Lebanon.

Tell us about that.

- Yeah, my friend who I was speaking to

who is actually ahistorian in Lebanon said,

the Lebanese people are proud,

they love their country,they love their flag,

but there's just the sense of unease

among the entire country.

But among Christians, there'sthis fear of Hezbollah

gaining more and more controland them being targeted.

So, a lot of people wanna stayand fight for their country,

but there definitely is thesense of, I might need to leave.

I might need to flee thecountry for my safety,

because I don't know whatthe next year, five years,

10 years is gonna look like in Lebanon.

- Yeah, Julie talkingabout loving their country,

the Lebanese do have afierce love of their country,

and what the Israelis did inTel Aviv and the City Hall,

they lit up the City Hallwith the Lebanese flag.

I was talking to afriend of mine in Beirut

and he said, that's all oversocial media in Lebanon,

could this possibly bethe Berlin Wall moment

for Israel and Lebanon?

- I hope so, I hope it really is.

I really hope they can come together,

they can bridge some of their differences.

Retired IDF general, AmosYadlin said this week,

there's really no disputebetween Israel and Lebanon.

They agree on the border,they have no water dispute,

there's no reason why theycan't have diplomatic ties.

And it's really justHezbollah backed by Iran,

which wants to destroy Israel.

So, this could be the time.

A lot of the Middle Easterncountries, the Gulf States

are making friends with Israel.

And this could be the time

when maybe God could overturn Hezbollah,

overturn their power in Lebanon

and give the Lebanesepeople back their country.

- Yeah, you mentioned a Hezbollah,

I was talking to someoneon Facebook Live this week,

and they were saying thatthe politicians right now

are speaking out against Hezbollah.

She actually spoke out againstHezbollah on Facebook Live,

and I called her backafterwards and I said,

"Are you sure that's okay?"

And she said, "Well, that'swhat everybody is saying."

The politicians, the people on the street.

Final question to you, Julie,

could this be the momentfor Hezbollah to really,

people have been demonstratingagainst Hezbollah for months,

what do you see for thefuture of Hezbollah right now?

- Well, I hope thisreally will be the time

when they lose their power in Lebanon.

Because it really is just aforce to get rid of Israel.

And it's been destroyingLebanon at the same time,

the economy, storing weapons,

we don't know what thereason was for this blast.

But one of the things is that Hezbollah,

that the chemical belonged to Hezbollah

or they had weapons stored nearby.

So, Hezbollah hasn't doneanything good for Lebanon.

So, perhaps this will be thetime when Lebanon is set free.

- Yeah, well, that'scertainly how a lot of people

are praying here in Israeland around the world

that really, finally freedomwould come to Lebanon

and its people.

Emily, Julie, thanks for joining.

(upbeat music)

Up next, I'll look at Lebanonthrough the lens of the Bible.

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- This week's explosion in Beirut

thrust Lebanon into theinternational spotlight

in a brutal way.

But here's a story GaryLane did a few years ago

about what the Bible hasto say about Lebanon.

(orchestral music)

- [Gary] For centuries,

the breathtaking beauty ofLebanon has inspired poets.

- [Poet] Come from Lebanonmy bride come from Lebanon.

- [Gary] The earthy fragrance

of the region's cedartrees is unforgettable.

- [Poet] Well, water allthe trees of the Lord,

the cedars of Lebanon which he planted.

- [Gary] King Solomon hadsome of these choice trees,

specially brought down

to use in his temple forthe Lord centuries ago.

For all these reasons and more,

Lebanon has always beenhistorically linked to the Bible.

Lebanon is mentioned more than 70 times

in the Old Testament.

It was in the town of Zarephathbetween Tyre and Sidon

that Elijah healed the son of a widow,

raising him from the dead.

The New Testament is also full of passages

that talk about travels through Lebanon.

Jesus and his disciplestraveled a lot in Lebanon,

which was called Phoenicia back then.

- [Narrator 2] Jesus went from that place

and withdrew to theregion of Tyre and Sidon.

And behold, a Canaanitewoman of that district

came and called out.

- [Woman 3] Have pity onme, Lord son of David,

my daughter is tormented by a demon.

- [Narrator 2] Then Jesussaid to her in reply,

oh, woman, great is your faith,

let it be done for you as you wish.

- [Gary] Some experts think Lebanon's

majestic snow-capped Mount Hermon

might have been theMount of Transfiguration

mentioned numerous times in the gospels.

Later, earlier Christiansfled north for safety

after Stephen was stonedto death by an angry mob.

- [Narrator 2] Now, thosewho had been scattered

by the persecution thatarose because of Stephen,

went as far as Phonecia,Cyprus, and Antioch

preaching the word to no one but Jews.

- [Gary] And it somewhere on the road

from Jerusalem to Damascus,that Paul found Jesus Christ.

When he started his traveling ministry,

Paul's missionary journeysoften took him through Lebanon.

But now, centuries later, theterrorist group, Hezbollah

has chosen some of these very same sites

to launch their war against Israel.

Some wonder if the beauty sooften talked about in the Bible

might be marred by war.

But over the centuries, nomatter how horrible the conflict,

Lebanon's beauty has always grown back,

both in the land and in the people.

Gary Lane, CBN News.

- Well, as you can see,the Bible has a lot to say

about the country of Lebanon.

Please join me in prayer forthe people and this country

at this critical time.

Father, we pray right nowfor the people of Lebanon

that you would comfort those who mourn,

that you would heal thoseright now that are injured,

and Lord that you wouldrestore the lives of people

who would literally havejust lost everything.

We pray, Father, for godlyleadership, political leadership,

we pray for economicrestoration of this country

that is so near and dear to your heart.

And Lord, let it fulfill your destiny

because it's such a special land to you,

and has such a spaceor place in the Bible.

And we ask that in Jesus name, amen.

So, please continue to prayfor the situation in Lebanon

and its people at this time.

Well, that's all for thisedition of Jerusalem Dateline,

I'm Chris Mitchell, thanks for joining us,

we'll see you next timeon Jerusalem Dateline.

(upbeat music)