Lebanese Father Sacrificed His Life To Save Hundreds From A Suicide Bomber: Reports

Ali (C-L) and Malak (C-R), the children of Adel Termos, who was killed in a twin bombing attack that rocked a busy shopping street in the area of Burj al-Barajneh in Beirut's southern suburb, carry a portrait of their father during his funeral in the village of Tallussa in the Nabatiyeh governorate, south of Lebanon on November 13, 2015. Lebanon mourned 44 people killed in south Beirut in a twin bombing claimed by the Islamic State group, the bloodiest such attack in years, the Red Cross also said at least 239 people were also wounded, several in critical condition. (MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP/Getty Images)

The wife (C) of Adel Termos, who was killed in a twin bombing attack that rocked a busy shopping street in the area of Burj al-Barajneh in Beirut's southern suburb, mourns during his funeral in the village of Tallussa in the Nabatiyeh governorate, south of Lebanon on November 13, 2015. Lebanon mourned 44 people killed in south Beirut in a twin bombing claimed by the Islamic State group, the bloodiest such attack in years, the Red Cross also said at least 239 people were also wounded, several in critical condition. AFP PHOTO / MAHMOUD ZAYYAT (Photo credit should read MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP/Getty Images)

“The street is still divided by political and sectarian lines, but this time around the sense is that these are people, period,” Fares said of the political situation in Lebanon. “They’re dead because of something they had absolutely no role in ... They died because of some demented, twisted politics.”

Fares added that it would be incorrect to call the bombing victims martyrs.  

“Calling them martyrs is a sort of Lebanese way to not only dehumanize them, it’s to sort of make ourselves feel better that, yeah, it’s okay, they died, but they’re martyrs which means they’re in heaven and they’re in a better place,” he says. “But the fact of the matter is it’s just sort of a label to make ourselves feel better, and maybe their families feel better because the label of ‘victim’ means there’s a sort of accountability to the process.”