Citizens and residents of Bahrain with extended family members in Lebanon have been scrambling to make sure their loved ones are safe as Israel intensified its raids and bombing campaigns in the country.
Reuters reported that intense fighting erupted with Hizbollah in south Lebanon yesterday after Israeli paratroopers, commandos and armoured units launched raids and parts of Beirut were hit by airstrikes again.
The operation follows intense attacks that have devastated Hizbollah’s leadership, including assassinating its chief Hassan Nasrallah in the capital last week.
The GDN spoke with a number of citizens and residents with links to Beirut and the surrounding areas.
“Most of my family members, those fit and able, have relocated to the mountains where it’s a bit safer,” Lebanese-origin Bahraini Sarah Al Haffar, 25, explained. “However my sister is still in the heart of Beirut, she’s seven months’ pregnant and is afraid she will be unable to give birth safely in a hospital if they are busy treating those injured, or she might go into forced labour due to the stress of being unable to do normal things that are needed for her to offer a healthy life for the baby.
“We are trying to get her out of Lebanon, since she’s far into her pregnancy, however there aren’t any direct flights to Bahrain, and with everything happening everyone is trying to leave.
“The closest date available to come back is October 10.”
Concerns over a wider conflict in the Middle East prompted international airlines to suspend flights to the region or to avoid affected air space.
Emirates has cancelled flights between Dubai and Beirut until October 8, while Flydubai and Pegasus cancelled Beirut flights until October 7 and Qatar Airways has suspended flights until further notice.
“I was actually in Lebanon during the 2006 war,” Ms Al Haffar added.
“I was seven years old, but I was still very aware of everything happening and how we were going from shelter to shelter before being evacuated by Bahrain’s embassy in Syria via off-road bus routes and helicopters.
“However things are a lot more difficult now in terms of evacuation, and in terms of finding appropriate shelters as the bombings happen in random places.
“Shelters have also not changed over the years with every passing war, they’re crumbling and unreliable.”
At least 95 people were killed and 172 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s southern regions, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and Beirut in the past 24 hours, Lebanon’s health ministry said early yesterday.
A Bahrain-based Lebanese business-owner, who asked to remain anonymous due to security risks, told the GDN that in the wake of the recent bombing strikes, his 73-year-old mother had moved to his sister’s house on the outskirts of Beirut.
“Even though she was not in the direct area of attack within Beirut, the bombs and airstrikes are quite loud, and families and friends, who are able to, have been moving to safer areas,” he added.
Another individual, Bahraini with Lebanese roots, who was still trying to ascertain the safety of all his family members, expressed his hopes and prayers that the conflict would end soon across the region.
Meanwhile Aline Matta, who has lived in Bahrain for 13 years and works as a group marketing director, is focused on flying her mother out to Qatar.
“We want to move her for safety reasons, obviously, but she hates leaving because these are her roots and her life,” Ms Matta, who goes back to Lebanon nearly every summer, added.
“The blue sky I admired during the holidays is now cloudy, the roads we enjoyed surfing every evening are now full of people who don’t know where they will be tomorrow, not even knowing if there will be any tomorrow.
“Despite my anxiety, my agony, and my fear of not knowing if I may ever see my loved ones again, I know that it cannot be the end.
“The land of the Phoenix which seems to lack many skills undoubtedly masters the skill of always rising again.”
naman@gdnmedia.bh
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