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

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.

“Make him leave me alone!” he cried. His father reassured him and pulled him closer, his eyes tearing in grief – and gratitude that his son was healing.

Hussein and his father, Hassan, were the only survivors from their family when an Israeli strike last month collapsed their home in Beirut, killing 18 people – including Hussein’s mother, his two sisters and his brother.

Doctors at the American University of Beirut Medical Center repaired Hussein's fractured thigh and the torn tendons in his arm. Hussein should be able to walk again in two months, albeit with a lingering limp, they say.

A prognosis for Hussein’s invisible wounds is much harder. He is back in diapers and has begun wetting his bed. He hardly speaks. He hasn't asked about his mother and siblings, his father said.

The Israeli military said the Oct. 21 strike hit a Hezbollah target, without elaborating.

Children have often been the victims as Israel has escalated its bombardment in Lebanon since late September. More than 100 have been killed and hundreds wounded in the past six weeks, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Of the 14,000 wounded by Israeli fire the past year, around 10% are children.

Israel has vowed to cripple Hezbollah to stop the Lebanese militant group's fire on northern Israel, which began just after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack triggered the war in Gaza. It says Hezbollah hides its fighters and infrastructure in residential areas.

Increasingly, strikes have been hitting homes and killing families.

“It leaves us with a generation of physically wounded children, children who are psychologically and emotionally wounded,” said Ghassan Abu Sittah, a renowned British-Palestinian reconstructive surgeon who is also treating Hussein.

Beirut’s Lebanon Hospital Geitaoui has nearly tripled the capacity of its burns center – already one of Lebanon’s largest – since September to accommodate war wounded, said its medical director Naji Abirached.

About a fifth of newly admitted patients are children.

Ivana Skakye turned 2 last week in one of burns center ICU units. The tiny girl remains wrapped in gauze around her head, arms and lower body — six weeks after an Israeli strike left her with third-degree burns over 40% of her body.

Fatima Zayoun, her mother, was in the kitchen when the Sept. 23 strike hit outside their home in a southern village. The house was damaged and a fire broke out.

Zayoun rushed to grab her two daughters, who were playing on the terrace. They were covered with black ash, she said.

Ivana was unrecognizable, her hair burned away. “I told myself, `That is not her,’” Zayoun said.

Ivana’s 7-year-old sister Rahaf had burns to her face and hands and has recovered more quickly. Ivana could be discharged in a few days, said her doctor, Ziad Sleiman. But the family has no home to return to, and Zayoun worries Ivana could suffer infections in the crowded displaced shelters.

Zayoun was 17 last time Israel and Hezbollah were at war, in 2006. Displaced with her family then, she said she almost enjoyed the experience, riding out of their village in a truck, mixing with new people, learning new things. They returned home after the war.

“But this war is hard. They are hitting everywhere,” she said. “What do they want from us? Do they want to hurt our children? We are not what they are looking for.”

Abu Sittah, the surgeon, said that for children, an attack on their home can have lasting effects.

They "for the first time lose that sense of security — that their parents are keeping them safe, that their homes are invincible,” he said.

Parents in displaced shelters report increased anxiety, hostility and aggression among kids, said Maria Elizabeth Haddad, a psychosocial worker. The children talk back and ignore rules. Some become clingy. Others develop speech impediments. She cited one with early signs of psychosis.

One recent morning, children played in a school-turned-shelter north of Beirut, where nearly 3,000 people displaced from the south live.

The kids — ranging from 6 to 12 and hailing from different villages — split into two teams, competing to grab a handkerchief. As they played, a tiny girl clung to a visiting AP reporter, holding her hand. Finally deciding she could trust her, she whispered a secret in her ear: “I am from Lebanon. Don’t tell anyone.”

The game fell apart when two girls got into a fist fight. Pushing and shoving were followed by tears and tantrums.

Symptoms of anxiety will last as they grow – a craving for greater stability, difficulties with attachment -- said Haddad, manager of psychosocial support programs in the Beirut area for the U.S.-based International Medical Corps.

“It is a generational trauma. We have experienced it before with our parents,” she said. “This is not going to be easy to overcome.”

The night the strike hit, Hassan Mikdad had stepped out for coffee. He watched his building crumble.

His friend, Hussein Hammoud, rushed to help search. In the darkness, Hammoud spotted some fingers in the rubble. He thought they were severed – until the boy screamed. It was Hussein.

When he dug him out, Hussein had a metal bar embedded in his shoulder, glass lodged in his leg. Hammoud held the child’s almost-severed wrist in place.

Hussein’ two sisters — Celine, 10, and Cila, 14 — were pulled out of the rubble the next day. His mother, Mona, was found locked in an embrace with her 6-year-old son, Ali.

Hassan Mikdad lost nearly all evidence of his 16 years of family life – his family, his shop, his motorcycles and car, all destroyed.

Only Hussein remains. They must start together from scratch, he said. In the hospital, he buys the boy a new toy every day.

“What I am living through seems like a big lie. ... The mind can’t comprehend,” he said. “I thank God for the blessing that is Hussein.”

Displaced children take part in activities, organized by the International Medical Corps, at a shelter housing them in Dekwaneh, east Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Hussein Mikdad, 4, left, and his cousin Zahraa, right, who were injured on Oct. 2 in an Israeli airstrike at a densely-populated neighborhood south of Beirut, sit on their wheelchairs as they wait to be seen by their doctor at American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC), in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Fatima Zayoun, right, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press as she sits next to her daughter Ivana Skakye, 2, who is suffering from third-degree burns over 40 percent of her body following an Israeli airstrike last September near their home in Deir Qanoun al Nahr a village in south Lebanon, at the Geitaoui hospital where she is receiving treatment, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Rescue workers gather at the site of Israeli airstrikes that destroyed buildings facing the city's main government hospital in a densely-populated neighborhood, in southern Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Hussein Mikdad, 4, left, who was injured on Oct. 2 in an Israeli airstrike at a densely-populated neighborhood south of Beirut, looks at his father Hassan, during an interview with The Associated Press at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC), in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

In this undated photo provided by Fatima Zayoun, Rahaf Skakye, 7, left, and her sister Ivana Skakye, 2, pose for photo earlier this year before both girls suffered severe burns in their home in southern Lebanon following an Israeli airstrike last September near their home in the village of Deir Qanoun al Nahr, south Lebanon. (Fatima Zayoun via AP)

A Doctor's Without Borders counselor, left, talks to displaced children during a mental healthcare session in an empty building complex housing them, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Fatima Zayoun, covers her daughter Ivana Skakye, 2, who is suffered for third-degree burns over 40 percent of her body following an Israeli airstrike last September near their home in Deir Qanoun al Nahr a village in south Lebanon, as she lies on the bed at the Lebanese hospital Geitaoui where she is receiving treatment, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Displaced children take part in activities for mental healthcare, organized by the International Medical Corps, at a shelter housing them in Dekwaneh, east Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Displaced children draw during a mental healthcare session organized by Doctors Without Borders in an empty building complex housing them, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Ameera Amad waves the Lebanese flag outside an American Muslims and Allies election night watch party Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Dearborn, Mich., the nation's largest Arab-majority city. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Plastic surgeon doctor Ziad Sleiman, inspects Ivana Skakye, 2, a Lebanese child who is suffering from third-degree burns over 40 percent of her body following an Israeli airstrike last September near their home in Deir Qanoun al Nahr a village in south Lebanon, as she lies on a bed at the Geitaoui hospital where she is receiving treatment, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A nurse stands next of Ivana Skakye, 2, a Lebanese girl who is suffering from third-degree burns over 40 percent of her body following an Israeli airstrike last September near their home in Deir Qanoun al Nahr a village in south Lebanon, as she lies on a bed at the Geitaoui hospital where she is receiving treatment, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

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)

Hussein and Zahraa, 3, displaced Lebanese twins who fled with their parents from their village of Mais al-Jabal in south Lebanon amid the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel war, play on a gun with a twisted barrel statute, symbolizing anti-violence, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Ivana Skakye, 2, a Lebanese child who is suffering from third-degree burns over 40 percent of her body following an Israeli airstrike last September near their home in Deir Qanoun al Nahr, a village in south Lebanon, raises her burned arms as she lies on a bed at the Geitaoui hospital where she is receiving treatment, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

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, 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)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s embattled president apologized Saturday for public anxiety caused by his short-lived attempt to impose martial law hours ahead of a parliamentary vote on impeaching him.

President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a brief televised address Saturday morning he won’t shirk legal or political responsibility for the declaration and promised not to make another attempt to impose it. He said he would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country's political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office."

“The declaration of his martial law was made out of my desperation. But in the course of its implementation, it caused anxiety and inconveniences to the public. I feel very sorry over that and truly apologize to the people who must have been shocked a lot,” Yoon said.

Since taking office in 2022, Yoon, a conservative, has struggled to push his agenda through an opposition-controlled parliament and grappled with low approval ratings amid scandals involving himself and his wife. In his martial law announcement on Tuesday night, Yoon called parliament a “den of criminals” bogging down state affairs and vowed to eliminate “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces.”

A National Assembly vote on an opposition-led motion to impeach Yoon is set for Saturday afternoon, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether the motion would get the two-thirds needed to pass. The opposition parties that jointly brought the impeachment motion control 192 of the legislature's 300 seats, meaning they need at least eight additional votes from Yoon's conservative People Power Party.

That appeared more likely after the chair of Yoon's party called for his removal on Friday, but the party remained formally opposed to impeachment.

If Yoon is impeached, his powers will be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to remove him from office. If he is removed, an election to replace him must take place within 60 days.

The turmoil resulting from Yoon’s bizarre and poorly-thought-out stunt has paralyzed South Korean politics and sparked alarm among key diplomatic partners, including neighboring Japan and Seoul’s top ally the United States, as one of the strongest democracies in Asia faces a political crisis that could unseat its leader.

Tuesday night saw special forces troops encircling the parliament building and army helicopters hovering over it, but the military withdrew after the National Assembly unanimously voted to overturn the decree, forcing Yoon to lift it before daybreak Wednesday. The declaration of martial law was the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea.

Since then, thousands of people have protested in the streets of Seoul, waving banners, shouting slogans and dancing and singing along to K-pop songs with lyrics changed to call for Yoon’s ouster. Smaller groups of Yoon’s supporters rallied near the National Assembly Friday, holding signs that read “We oppose unconstitutional impeachment."

Opposition lawmakers say that Yoon’s attempt at martial law amounted to a self-coup and drafted the impeachment motion around rebellion charges.

Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, told reporters that Yoon’s speech was “greatly disappointing” and that the only way forward is his immediate resignation or impeachment.

Parliament said Saturday that it would meet at 5 p.m. It will first vote on a bill appointing a special prosecutor to investigate influence peddling allegations surrounding Yoon’s wife, and then on impeaching Yoon.

It's not clear if members of Yoon's PPP will break ranks to vote for impeachment. Eighteen lawmakers from a minority faction of the party joined the unanimous vote to cancel martial law, which passed 190-0. However, the party has decided to oppose the impeachment.

Experts say the PPP fears Yoon's impeachment and possible removal from office would leave the conservatives in disarray and easily losing a presidential by-election to liberals.

On Friday, PPP chair Han Dong-hun, who also heads the minority faction that helped cancel martial law, called for suspending Yoon’s constitutional powers, describing him as unfit to hold the office and capable of taking more extreme actions. But Han is not a lawmaker and the party's position remains anti-impeachment.

Han said he had received intelligence that during the brief period of martial law Yoon ordered the country’s defense counterintelligence commander to arrest and detain unspecified key politicians based on accusations of “anti-state activities."

Following Yoon’s televised address, Han reiterated his call for him to step down, saying that the president wasn’t in a state where he could normally carry out official duties. “President Yoon Suk Yeol’s early resignation is inevitable,” Han told reporters.

Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, later told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that Yoon called after imposing martial law and ordered him to help the defense counterintelligence unit to detain key politicians. The targeted politicians included Han, Lee and National Assembly speaker Woo Won Shik, according to Kim Byung-kee, one of the lawmakers who attended the meeting.

The Defense Ministry said it had suspended the defense counterintelligence commander, Yeo In-hyung, who Han alleged had received orders from Yoon to detain the politicians. The ministry also suspended the commanders of the capital defense command and the special warfare command over their involvement in enforcing martial law.

Former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, who has been accused of recommending Yoon to enforce martial law, has been placed under a travel ban and faces an investigation by prosecutors over rebellion charges.

Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho has testified to parliament that it was Kim Yong Hyun who ordered troops to be deployed to the National Assembly after Yoon imposed martial law.

A man passes by screens showing the broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement at the Yongsan Electronic store in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks at the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (South Korean Presidential Office/Yonhap via AP)

People watch TV screens showing the broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement at a Yongsan Electronic store in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A man watches TV screens showing the broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement at a Yongsan Electronic store in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

People watch a TV screen showing the live broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

People watch a TV screen showing the live broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

People watch a TV screen showing the live broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A woman watches a TV screen showing the live broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A man watches a TV screen showing the live broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A protester holds banner and shouts slogans against South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

In this image made from a video, An Gwiryeong, front right, confronts one of the soldiers as parliamentarians scrambled to get inside the National Assembly building to reverse martial law, in Seoul Dec. 4, 2024. (YONHAP NEWS TV via AP)

A supporter of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol rally outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A vendor sells LED lights at a protest rally against South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol near the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Supporters of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol chant slogans outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Protesters against South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol gather outside the ruling People Power Party headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Supporters of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol rally outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Vehicles are parked on the lawn of the National Assembly to prevent helicopters from landing due to concerns of any possible additional acts following the President's short-lived martial law declaration at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)