Hamad Attar

In Shaath, in the Bekaa, Hamad was born. It is also where he grew up and went to school. After middle school, he enrolled in a vocational institute to study Automobile Mechanics, but he dropped out, and worked with his father who owned an automobile repair shop. He also drove people to and from Beirut. In the last few years, he was working in MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, as a truck driver in the Port of Beirut.

Hamad was good, kind, and decent, all he wanted was a life in dignity.

He also had a great sense of humor, and was always making jokes around his friends and loved ones. He was brave and helpful.

“My son is handsome, he has hazel eyes” (إبني حلو وعيونو عسلية)… His mother’s pampering turned him into a strong man, who is scared of nothing but death. And he was brave until the last minute…

Hamad spent his his last summer in the Bekaa, with his parents who enjoyed his company for a whole month. But he insisted on his wife Ola to go to Beirut on August 3, 2020, a day before the awful earth shattering explosion.

On the morning of Tuesday August 4, he woke up hesitant and undecided whether or not he was going to the port. He was not on duty that day but he was replacing his cousin. At 10:00 AM, Hamad drove his wife to her parents’ house, and he put his SIM card in her phone and gave her his credit card, which was quite unusual, but he told her he was afraid to lose them. His coworker Hassan Chamas was waiting for him outside so they would go together.

Ola says they heard a huge explosion at 6:07 PM. She wanted to check on Hamad but she remembered he left his SIM card with her. She called his friend Hassan Chamas, but there was no answer.

An eyewitness saw Hamad driving a truck with his coworkers who died in the blast, Kassem El-Mawla, Hawlo Abbas, Hassan Chamas and Mohamad Sibai. When the first explosion was heard, Hamad stopped the truck and they all got off to see what happened. But a huge second explosion took their lives.

Hamad was found dead in the port. His uncle recognized him from a tattoo of his daughter’s name. His head was bleeding. On the second day Hamad was transferred to Geitaoui Hospital, and then to the Bekaa where he was buried in his home town.