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Lebanon’s missing sirens: High costs, no shelters, and no state plan

News Bulletin Reports

01-10-2025 | 12:01

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Lebanon’s missing sirens: High costs, no shelters, and no state plan

2^min

Report by Toni Mrad, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian

A question looms in Lebanon: Why are there no air raid sirens? Before the civil war, the country had sirens—then called “danger alarms”—but they fell silent during the conflict and were never restored.

Now, with Israel’s ongoing strikes, many are asking why the system has not returned, unlike in Israel.

Officials say reviving the system would fall under Lebanese Civil Defense, but the challenge lies in the high costs—starting with installing new sirens and extending to radar systems capable of detecting imminent attacks or natural disasters.

There is also the need to train Civil Defense personnel and educate citizens on how to respond when sirens sound, such as moving to shelters—though Lebanon lacks public shelters in the first place.

Without these elements, sirens would be little more than noise. The absence of a comprehensive state plan for wars and disasters—from 1975 until today—underscores a deeper question: Which state are we talking about, and who is it supposed to protect?

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