{"id":61772,"date":"2026-04-11T04:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T04:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/61772\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T04:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T04:04:09","slug":"community-members-gather-to-mourn-lives-lost-to-israeli-airstrikes-in-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/61772\/","title":{"rendered":"Community members gather to mourn lives lost to Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon"},"content":{"rendered":"

DEARBORN, Mich. (WXYZ) \u2014 Dozens of community members gathered at Peace Park in Dearborn Friday night to mourn the loss of innocent lives killed in Israeli airstrikes.<\/p>\n

People filled the park, waving flags and standing together in a moment of silence. Posters displayed the faces of children, which organizers say represent the lives lost in the ongoing conflict.<\/p>\n

Watch Carli Petrus’ video report below:<\/p>\n

Dearborn community members gather to mourn lives lost to Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon<\/p>\n

Malak Bjeiji and Aya Bjeiji attended the vigil. They said they do not know anyone personally killed, but their village in Lebanon was recently struck.<\/p>\n

“To support our country and to not be quiet about what\u2019s happening because there are innocent people that lost everything while we have everything here,” Malak Bjeiji said.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s really sad because they\u2019re from the same village and seeing on Instagram all the bombings and all the buildings getting put down on the people, that\u2019s really sad,” Aya Bjeiji said.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

WXYZ<\/p>\n

For organizer Hussein Hachem, the conflict is especially personal.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s not easy, it\u2019s not easy,” Hachem said.<\/p>\n

“My family is still there. My brothers, they\u2019ve been displaced,” Hachem continued. “They had to flee their house and find safe shelter. There\u2019s no place that\u2019s safe in Lebanon right now.”<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

WXYZ<\/p>\n

I asked Hachem what it is like knowing his family is not safe.<\/p>\n

“You are worried all the time. I sleep and my phone is always next to me all the time and every time my phone rings or there\u2019s a text message, I jump to it right away,” Hachem said.<\/p>\n

Related video: ‘Her home was destroyed.’ Metro Detroiters fear for family in Lebanon amid Israeli strikes<\/p>\n

‘Her home was destroyed.’ Michiganders fear for family in Lebanon amid strikes<\/p>\n

A show of solidarity also came from outside the Muslim community.<\/p>\n

“As a Christian, our faith calls us to work for the dignity and justice of every single person and to me, that extends to anyone in our human family,” Dean Apont-Safe said.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

WXYZ<\/p>\n

I asked Apont-Safe why he decided to attend the vigil.<\/p>\n

“In support of our Lebanese, Middle Eastern neighbors,” Aponte-Safe said. “Really wanting to express our support and our solidarity for communities that have really been struggling.”<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

WXYZ<\/p>\n

As candles burned low, many attendees said their message remains strong: calling for peace, awareness and for the lives lost to never be forgotten.<\/p>\n

“This is a dire situation, this is a humanitarian situation. You don\u2019t have to care for politics, you don\u2019t have to take sides, just care for humanity,” Hachem said.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DEARBORN, Mich. (WXYZ) \u2014 Dozens of community members gathered at Peace Park in Dearborn Friday night to mourn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[8532,8533,93,8536,8534],"class_list":{"0":"post-61772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lebanon","8":"tag-7-action-news","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-lebanon","11":"tag-metro-detroit","12":"tag-wxyz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116384095431386718","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}