news from lebanon
Lebanon and the people of Lebanon have witnessed hard circumstances recently due to the Israeli offensive. At the beginning of the crisis, my family would always move, rather escape one place to another, a neighborhood to another, an area to another . I decided not to stop working and indeed I drove around all the time with an American journalist called Paul Taggart.
As for my family, I gave them the liberty to decide where and when to leave. First, they escaped from Haret Horeik to Hazmieh in east Beirut then to the village in Bekaa and at last to a town called Jub Jannine, a relatively safe shelter. Most people in Lebanon became either Refugees or evacuees. Certainly, the process of evacuating Westerners from Lebanon increased the fear and confusion of the local people.
The panic was enlarged by the Israeli attempt to destroy the infrastructure, especially the roads making the passage from one place to another virtually impossible. In addition, they obliterated whole residential places in order to try to track Hizbullah fighters, who are invisible like devils or ghosts sneaking from a place to another.
Emotionally speaking, I felt so sad to watch Lebanese people in front of their destroyed houses trying to save whatever things survived the bombings. While walking in the streets, the bad smell of dead bodies will follow you to every corner. Many corpses were reached only days later by the red Cross due to the heavy shelling. I was unable to contact anybody— telephone network coverage was weak and electricity unavailable most of the times. I had my food in the car—biscuits, crackers and some bread. Petrol prices went up and was available in the black market: 16 liters for 50 USD. As a result, transportation fees increased far more than the average price. There are a lot of other problems that we faced but cannot be counted all. Now, after the cessation of all hostilities, the reconstruction process is initiated especially in Haret Horeik and South of Lebanon. Thank God, none of my family members was physically affected but the memories of this war will always haunt us psychologically. I thank you and all my friends who worried and cared for my safety during the war. Your moral support and sympathy is a big help for us. We always thank God for watching over us. This is my picture taken during the difficult times when we had to leave our homes and become refugees. Your ultimate help will be your prayers for me, my country and for the end of war. Many innocent victims are paying the price and many children are still injured daily by the war leftovers in the South of Lebanon.
Bro. Ahmed
Photos taken by Brother Ahmed of the destruction near where his family lived.
