2024-08-05 04:06:51
As the fear of an upheaval in the Middle East grows, it is a race against time for many people to leave Lebanon. At Beirut airport, it is time for long lines and uncertainty for passengers, of the outbreak of tensions between Israel, Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran.
“I’m not happy to go. I want to spend the whole summer in Lebanon and go back to work” in France, said Joëlle Sfeir in the crowded landing hall. But “My flight was canceled and I was forced to book another ticket today, cutting my trip short,” he explained. Like many members working or studying abroad, this Lebanese woman took advantage of her summer vacation to visit her relatives and friends back home.
Air France suspended its service to Beirut
But after the assassination on Wednesday of the political leader of Hamas, Ismaïl Haniyeh, in Tehran, a day after an Israeli attack that killed the military chief of Hezbollah, Fouad Chokr, in Beirut, the fear of a military advance brought many flights, including German Lufthansa and Air France, to stop their services to Beirut. At the same time, after threats of retaliation against Israel from Tehran and Hezbollah, many countries – Sweden, the United States, Great Britain, France, Jordan and Saudi Arabia – called on their countries to leave Lebanon as quickly as possible. it is possible.
In the departure hall, all the families, children on their laps or trying to sleep, monitor their luggage and the screens showing the departures, especially for Istanbul, Amman and Cairo. Gretta Moukarzel, who runs a travel agency near Beirut, said she has “received a flood of calls from clients who want to leave and those who fear being stuck in Lebanon.” But it is difficult to find places because of the number of canceled flights and the increased demand, especially for European countries.
Long lines in front of check-in counters and security checks, some of which have to go through changed planes. And near the area where you have arrived, which is always crowded in the summer season, only a small number of people are waiting for their loved ones.
Hezbollah promised revenge
On the airport road beyond the southern suburbs of Beirut, Hezbollah’s stronghold, a large billboard proclaiming “We will take revenge” under the eyes of Ismaïl Haniyeh and Fouad Chokr.
Since the beginning of the war in Gaza triggered by Hamas’ unexpected attack on Israel on October 7, cross-border violence between Hezbollah and the Israeli army has left some 546 dead in Lebanon, mainly soldiers, but also 115 civilians. On the Israeli side, including in the occupied Golan Heights, 22 soldiers and 25 civilians were killed, according to army figures.
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