Beirut, Lebanon:
Lebanese footballer Celine Hadar was about to realize her dream of playing for the national women’s team, but the debris from the Israeli attack left the 19-year-old in a medically induced coma.
After the outbreak of full-scale war in September, Haider’s family was among more than a million people who fled south Beirut and other Hezbollah strongholds as Israeli bombs rained down on them.
“But Celine had to come back to (South) Beirut for her studies and training,” her father Abbas Haider told AFP.
“She would leave the house after an evacuation call was issued or the bombing intensified, then return home at night to sleep,” he said.
Now, she is the latest athlete to become a casualty of the Israeli attacks, which have already forced the Lebanese Football Association to indefinitely suspend all domestic football competitions.
On Saturday, her father called her to warn her of new evacuation orders published online by the Israeli military and she left the house.
But soon after, “my wife called me to tell me Celine was in the hospital,” he said.
She was seriously injured in an Israeli attack on her Shia home, when the air force bombed the southern suburbs of Beirut.
cracked skull
The footage of Haidar, lying unconscious on the ground, her face covered in blood, while a young man writhing in pain next to her, took Lebanese social media by storm.
“The attack was at close range and he was hit in the head,” his mother Sana Sharhour told AFP. “My daughter has suffered a brain haemorrhage, her skull is cracked.”
Sharhour said her daughter had sent her a message asking her to prepare her favorite dish, but “an hour later her friend called and said she was injured”.
“My daughter is a heroine, she will rise,” she said, her eyes red with tears.
“She dreamed of competing abroad. She said she wanted to be like (Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Lionel) Messi… She wanted to be a star and have everyone talk about her.
“Now everyone is talking about her because she was injured in a war she had nothing to do with.
“They killed his dream.”
‘A fighter’ on the pitch
Haidar was a pillar of her club, Beirut Football Academy (BFA), which won the Lebanese Women’s Football League last season without losing a single point, and this season she was to take on the role of captain.
The midfielder was also part of the national women’s under-18 team that won the 2022 West Asian Football Federation Championship.
He is now in a medically induced coma, team manager Ziad Saade said.
“Doctors are monitoring her very closely,” her father told AFP from Beirut’s Saint-Georges hospital, where his daughter is being treated.
“But her injuries are serious, we hope she will slowly recover,” he said with tears in his eyes.
“We are paying the price for something that is not our fault.”
Lebanese officials say more than 3,544 people have been killed since Hezbollah began firing with Israel last October, with the majority of deaths recorded since Israel stepped up its campaign in September.
“On the pitch, he is a fighter, he was the link between defense and attack,” coach Samir Barbarí said when he and teammates visited him in hospital.
“She is an extraordinary girl and an excellent player.”
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