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Saturday, October 12, 2024

Britons describe life in Lebanon

Britons in Lebanon have described how locals are afraid to sleep with their phones by their beds in the wake of exploding device attacks, while others have described a sense of “existential panic” in the country as strikes between Israel and Hezbollah are carried out.

The UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has urged British nationals to leave the country, warning the situation could “deteriorate rapidly.”

Thirty-seven people were killed and thousands were injured in explosions of hand-held communication devices used by Hezbollah members as well as civilians in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah chief declared on Thursday that pager attacks on the country was an “act of war”.

Britons describe life in Lebanon
Smoke rises from the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces (Photo: Reuters)

Israel has not admitted responsibility or commented on events, but is widely believed to be behind the attacks, and Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday they are starting a “new phase of the war”.

A British woman from Basingstoke who runs an NGO in Lebanon and would like to remain anonymous, says she’s not planning to come back to the UK, despite the Foreign Secretary’s advice.

“I mean never say never, but no I really don’t plan to go back [to the UK]. I’m still in Beirut,” she told i.

The 34-year-old has lived there on and off since 2019.

“I’m feeling quite relaxed. I sort of don’t stress until I’m physically in danger. I didn’t see or hear any of the explosions, I was at home working.”

“I feel bad that my mood is probably not reflective of the rest of the country but I went out for dinner last night and I mean we were the only people in the restaurant we went to. So I think people obviously are scared.”

She describes the psychological toll that the recent Israeli attacks are taking on the population. “People are now too scared to sleep with their phones by their beds. People are scared of laptops they’ve been given by organisations, worrying they’re going to explode.”

“I can’t say I’m feeling that about my iPhone, but I know lots of people are.”

“I think it’s all just very uncertain,” she says, adding “I don’t know what it will take. I mean it does feel like [Israel] couldn’t have gone much further from damaging Hezbollah’s infrastructure and making a huge impact on them, so maybe this will be the thing [to push them into full-blown war].”

“I’m getting a lot of messages from friends just telling me to come home.”

Tom Young, 51, is from Northamptonshire, but has been living in Beirut for the past 15 years. He left Lebanon in August to return to the UK when there was talk of an imminent war following threats by Iran to retaliate after the assassinations of key Hezbollah and Hamas officials by Israel.

He says the sonic booms of the Israeli jets flying over Beirut was “really stressing me out”.

“It was very hard to leave loved ones; friends, my girlfriend and my dear cat,” he says.

At the moment Mr Young, who is an artist, says he is feeling “really disturbed, is the best word to describe it – even though I’m not there.”

“I’ve got a 92-year-old father who has a weak heart and his health was significantly affected by me being there. It’s a two-person family, and I’m the only child, I have that extra responsibility to think about.”

“If it wasn’t for my father, I might stay up in the mountains,” he says, where he feels safe.

“I thought I didn’t want to get trapped if the Israelis bombed the airport and destroyed the major infrastructure of the country, which they stated they’re going to do.”

“I’ve spoken to my girlfriend a lot, and obviously people are really terrified. It’s a kind of a terrifying form of warfare that the world hasn’t seen before.”

The UK government has not yet condemned the attacks by Israel, with some MPs urging them to.

Green MP Carla Denyer, said on X that: “No country can be allowed to break international law with impunity. The attacks in Lebanon – widely presumed to be by Mossad – are killing civilians. The UK government should condemn them unequivocally, and robustly challenge Gallant’s trumpeted ‘new phase’ in a deadly war.”

“It’s double standards, and the hypocrisy and the complicity of the West just makes me sick,” Mr Young said.

“I can’t believe that the UK Government is providing diplomatic cover for this disgusting regime. It’s awful.”

Israeli air strikes in Lebanon intensified on Thursday and Friday. Many are now expecting a major front of the war to move from Gaza to the Lebanese border with Israel.

“There’s this sort of existential panic, as I gather, spreading through the country. The Israelis are choosing to terrorise not just Hezbollah, but the whole country,” says Mr Young.

“It’s this war of attrition, and it’s a kind of guessing game [as to what will happen next].”

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