Fearful escape from Beirut
By Lin Noueihed and Adam Bell
Sunday Telegraph/Australia
July 16, 2006 12:00
THE first Australians to flee war torn Lebanon arrived home to tearful
reunions with family in Sydney last night.
"It was very bad," Joseph Hadchiti cried.
"They burned all the bridges, the airport. I was very worried."
Mr Hadchiti fled Beirut with his wife and seven-year-old daughter
on Thursday.
The Sydney father told of his 36-hour dash to flee the region. His
family got a lift to the Syrian border, then a cab to Damascus,
where they boarded a commercial flight which flew via Bahrain.
But his excitement last night to be home was tinged with sadness. Mr
Hadchiti had to make the heart-wrenching decision to leave his other
daughter, Xena, behind with her young family.
His other daughters and son in Sydney spent an anxious two days
awaiting news that their family were safe. They could communicate
only via SMS text messages because all the telephone lines were jammed.
"It’s 4.20am and we haven’t slept yet because of the sound of the
Israeli airplanes and bombings. God bless xo," read one text.
Also touching down on Australian soil last night was Rosie Haddad
and her children Stephanie, Ellie and Anthony.
"We just ran as soon as we found out. It was very stressful,"
Mrs Haddad said. Asked how it felt to be back home, Anthony said:
"It’s the best."
They were the lucky ones. For most people, every avenue for safe
rescue remains blocked as the intense Israeli bombing campaign has
shut down all Lebanon’s main transport routes.
There are an estimated 3000 Australians travelling in Lebanon and
another 25,000 members of the Australian Lebanese community who
live there.
They include 78 members of the Sydney Armenian Community dance group,
including young children, teens and young adults, who are trapped in
Beirut as Israel’s bombing raids continue.
"There is a lot of anger, and a lot of frustration," said Rosemary
Diodati, 12 members of whose extended family are stranded.
"I don’t think they (governments) are doing enough. We want them out,
and we want them safe and sound," he said.
Sydney man Aren Eablanian, 23, a member of the dance group stuck in
Beirut, said they were becoming increasingly anxious listening to
the bombs exploding.
"We’re seeing what’s happening on television, and it’s pretty scary —
especially what’s going on with the airport," he said.
Younger members were panicking, Mr Eablanian said. "It’s getting
really stressful for everyone.
"We just want to go home, but we have no idea when that will be."
At least 79 civilians have been killed and 248 wounded since Israel
began its assault on Lebanon after the capture of two soldiers and
the killing of eight others by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah
on Wednesday.
Eighteen civilians, including nine children, were burnt alive in
an Israeli helicopter gunship attack yesterday on residents fleeing
border villages in south Lebanon, UN and hospital sources said.
The bomb raids have destroyed runways at Beirut’s airport and major
roads out of the country.
Israeli army chief Dan Halutz said more targets would be bombed in a
bid to remove Hezbollah from the border and replace it with a force
answerable to the Lebanese government.
In retaliation, Hezbollah fired more than two dozen rockets at towns
in northern Israel, slightly wounding several people.
Hezbollah leader Sheik Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, speaking shortly
after Israeli jets destroyed his Beirut home, said the guerrilla group
had hit an Israeli warship off Beirut and threatened to launch deep
strikes inside the Jewish state.
"You wanted open war. We are going to open war," Sheik Nasrallah
declared.
Israel’s assault on Lebanon has drawn mounting world criticism,
but the White House said President Bush would not press Israel to
halt operations.