An Australian woman living in Lebanon with her husband and two young children has laid bare the horror of watching war inch closer to her family.
Eliana Ibrahim, an Australian citizen born in Sydney, has been living in Batroun in northern Lebanon, about 50km from Beirut, since she was a young girl.
She’d never contemplated fleeing Lebanon before, even as the financial crisis emptied bank accounts and destroyed livelihoods.
“Now it’s different, it’s a serious war. We are living in hell,” Ibrahim told 9news.com.au.
“Every night when we go to sleep we ask God to keep us alive for the next day, how worse could that be, especially (as) I’m a mother of two kids (aged three and five).”
Ibrahim said she will be forced to leave her husband, who works for the Lebanese government, behind if she gets on a flight out of Lebanon.
The mother-of-two said she has “no support system” if she flees and is worried about the financial cost of going back to Australia with no job and two mouths to feed.
“Thousands like me are facing other struggles here in Lebanon and the main struggle is financial issues,” she said.
“Most of us can’t afford financially to leave due to the crisis we have been going through since 2019.”
“My main reason to leave is for my kids’ safety,” she added.
Ibrahim said she has been in contact with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) about securing flights for herself, her two children and her parents, who also want to leave.
And she is “100 per cent not the only one” in this heartbreaking situation, Ibrahim added.
Mercy flights carrying Australians from war-torn Beirut have already touched down in Cyprus.
Up to 500 Australian citizens have been safety flown from Lebanon to Cyprus so far.
Australians and their families will stay in temporary accommodation in Larnaca and return to Australia on connecting flights operated by Qantas and Qatar Airways starting from Sunday.
Over 3000 Australians in Lebanon are registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) as wanting to depart.
