Lebanese Blogger Beirut Spring Tweets from Tripoli Bomb Explosion · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

About 40 people were killed and hundreds injured when two explosions occurred outside two mosques in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli today [August 23, 2013].
The blasts coincided with Friday prayers, which take place at noon. The first blast happened near Taqwa Mosque, and the second, minutes later, near Salam Mosque. Lebanese blogger Mustapha Hamoui was a few metres away from the second blast, in his own apartment, when it occurred. He reports on the unfolding mayhem.
First, there was the explosion:
Huge exlosion near my house… all glasses shattered
— Mustapha Hamoui (@Beirutspring) August 23, 2013
Then, Hamoui checks on his family:
Just made sure my family is safe. I live on the 10th floor and all my glass is shattered
— Mustapha Hamoui (@Beirutspring) August 23, 2013
And then inspects damage in his apartment:
This photo is for a door INSIDE my house, and it was shattered, I live in 10th floor #tripoliLB pic.twitter.com/4Uwm5ZpR8O
— Mustapha Hamoui (@Beirutspring) August 23, 2013
And then the realisation of “what if”:
If I were sitting just 4meters away I would have definitely been severely injured or dead.. #TripoliLB
— Mustapha Hamoui (@Beirutspring) August 23, 2013
Hamoui ventures outdoors to check out the scene. He shares this picture of absolute mayhem:
Scene of explosion #TripoliLB pic.twitter.com/Pv9mn8iqmj
— Mustapha Hamoui (@Beirutspring) August 23, 2013
Writing about such incidents is one thing, living through them another thing, he explains.
I still can’t believe this. I drive &walk by this spot about 10 times every day. It’s a miracle that the people I love r alive #trilpoliLB
— Mustapha Hamoui (@Beirutspring) August 23, 2013
As someone who has previously tweeted about such things, it is a *Completely* different experience to live through it. Heart still racing
— Mustapha Hamoui (@Beirutspring) August 23, 2013
That lingering feeling that one of the dozens killed is someone you know #TripoliLB
— Mustapha Hamoui (@Beirutspring) August 23, 2013
Last week, a bomb explosion ripped through Dahiyeh, in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Hamoui tweets:
Dahieh:1 , Tripoli: 1Can we call it a draw? Please?
— Mustapha Hamoui (@Beirutspring) August 23, 2013
But Antoun Issa shares a photograph from Dahiyeh, a Shite stronghold, which shows solidarity with Tripoli:
Solidarity from #Dahiyeh to #TripoliLB. Don't give into sectarianism – #Lebanon pic.twitter.com/CCj0hqOzQd
— Antoun Issa (@antissa) August 23, 2013
Meanwhile, AFP's reporter Patrick Baz shares a video of the moment one of the blasts took place, from a security video inside one of the mosques:
Security video inside mosque shows moment of blast that left 29 dead and more than 300 injured.#Lebanon #TripoliLB http://t.co/xXYBEXHeTY
— patrickbaz (@Patrick_Baz) August 23, 2013
And from afar, Ghassan Bendali shares this picture, showing the port of Tripoli, with the plumes of smoke from one of the explosions in the horizon:
Definitely an explosion at the entrance if the port it seems.  #tripolilb pic.twitter.com/dtKyQfDf7Y
— Ghassan Bendali (@ghassanb) August 23, 2013