Sound barrier or raid? When children in Lebanon become military experts | Politics

South Lebanon- In the direction from Beirut Towards one of the shelters for displaced people from the villages and towns bordering Israel in Tyre District, southern Lebanon, where the war resulted in the destruction of dozens of border villages. She was The drones hardly leave the sky, and the road that usually witnesses traffic jams is passable and traffic is light.

When we arrived at the shelter, we found his children in an educational session organized by a non-governmental organization entitled “Life Skills” and how to deal positively with surrounding events, and the necessity of holding on to dreams and working to achieve them.

The child Ahmed attended the session without participating or interacting, and he attributed the reason for this to adapting to the events.

Ahmed told Al Jazeera Net, “We have adapted to this situation that has been going on for months, and we are no longer afraid of anything.”

Junior Experts

Ahmed continues that he and his comrades have become accustomed to the sound barrier that Israeli planes break, and have begun to differentiate between it and an actual raid.

He explained that the sound barrier differs from the raid in two ways: the first does not harm, while the second kills or destroys. The first occurs in two stages, then the roar of the plane's engines is heard, while the raid is a single, loud sound.

The sound barrier is the speed at which sound waves travel through the air, which is 1,235 kilometers per hour. When an aircraft flies at this speed or more, it is said that a sound barrier has been broken, and this results in a loud sound known as a “sonic boom,” which is a physical phenomenon.

For his part, the child is willing to talk, explaining the difference between a sound barrier and an actual raid.

Hassan told Al Jazeera Net, “When I hear a loud sound, I wait for a few seconds. If I hear a second loud noise and then the sounds of the plane's engines, I tell my family members not to be afraid. But if it is just one sound, this means it is an airstrike.”

Hassan went further and told us, “I know where the raid or assassination will take place. If it comes from Beirut, Tyre, or the border villages, I am not afraid of either of them because I have adapted to them.”

In turn, nine-year-old Aseel confirmed that she is no longer afraid of sound, and said, “Nothing scares me anymore because God is with us.”

The shelter centre houses 160 people who were displaced from border villages. Their economic situation is difficult and they live on aid and “boxes that come to them from associations and philanthropists.” According to the center director.

children #Armaty_town South Lebanon
During the Israeli raid on the outskirts of the town… These are the children of southern Lebanon pic.twitter.com/oHpeSQbbSb

– Armata town 🇱🇧 (@baldataramta) August 8, 2024

annoying effects

That children of this age get used to these terrifying sounds and talk about them with such confidence and analyze them as if they were military experts seems like a phenomenon that should be stopped and psychology should be asked about it.

According to psychiatrist Ahmed Ayash, understanding and dealing with the event differs according to the children’s ages. Those who understand the meaning of a warplane and the meaning of war can distinguish between a sound barrier and a raid.

Ayash explains that children under five have difficulty recognizing the difference, but they may imitate their parents or siblings in being calm or fearful.

The same specialist continues in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that violence and fear leave a disturbing effect on memory, including natural earthquakes, and whenever the fear event is accompanied by news of death, the news will have a deeper impact on memory and will lay the foundation for psychological disturbance in the future.

The negative effects on children are not only psychological, but they can also be physical, according to Dr. Ayash, who pointed out that fear can take many forms, including stuttering and pathological fear, but it is not certain, as the susceptibility of the nervous and psychological systems to disturbance differs from one child to another, and the child’s environment and family play a fundamental role in absorbing shocks and overcoming them in the future.