A warning: this story contains content some listeners may find distressing.
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TRANSCRIPT
“My kids are scared. They never see that, you know. Sometime we see people, only one hand, one head, one leg, start screaming. You know, I don't want to say it. Even me, I'm scared. I didn't sleep for two days, me and my kids.”
For Melbourne mother Iman Nayef, what was meant to be a family visit to Lebanon has turned into a terrifying struggle to get home.
“I come to visit my family. First day ok, the next day, the war started, and I can't go anywhere. I'm stuck here.”
Iman travelled to southern Lebanon with her children after two years apart from relatives.
She arrived the day before the war began.
Now she and her children are trapped as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensifies, the sound of explosions almost constant.
More than 800 people have been killed and over 800,000 displaced across Lebanon as Israeli forces continue operations against Hezbollah positions.
As SBS Arabic's Hamsa Abou Kheir discovered, what was meant to be a family visit for Iman and her children has now become a desperate effort to get home.
“The bombing 24 hour. The bombing 24 hour, it's very hard here. It's dangerous. We're not safe. Everything is scary and the kid's not safe. They're not sleeping well.”
For Iman’s family, returning to Australia is not just about escaping the violence.
One of her daughters urgently needs follow-up medical treatment.
The child previously underwent surgery in Australia and still has metal supports in her leg and hip.
Doctors now need to remove them.
“She has her leg, one bigger, longer one shorter, and she have metal in her leg and her hips. She have to go back to Australia and check up because she have to take the metal out from her leg, the hips.”
Without treatment, she says the condition can affect how her daughter walks.
But leaving Lebanon has become nearly impossible.
Commercial flights are still operating from Beirut, but thousands are trying to flee.
Iman says airlines quoted a price she simply cannot afford.
“They need 19,000. I can't afford it that much.”
She says she has since managed to negotiate that down to $17,600 but it’s still more than she can afford.
For a family trapped in a war zone, that price makes escape almost impossible.
“I don't have any option, I don't have that money, I'll be honest with you.”
Iman says she has tried repeatedly to contact Australian authorities.
She tells SBS Arabic she sent passport documents and identity details but is still waiting for a response.
“I sent the passport photo for me and my kids last week… to immigration and that's it. And I keep saying I'm not safe. Please help and I'm still waiting. Even my daughter, she tried to.”
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong says the deteriorating security situation has forced the government to reduce its diplomatic presence in Lebanon.
Non-essential Australian officials have been directed to leave the country, although a small number of diplomats remain in Beirut to provide consular support.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says the safety of Australians overseas remains its top priority.
Officials say commercial flights remain the fastest option for Australians wanting to leave Lebanon, urging those who wish to depart to secure seats where possible.
Lebanon has also been listed as “Do Not Travel” on the government’s Smartraveller website since February.
Meanwhile the fighting itself shows little sign of slowing.
Israel launched its campaign after Hezbollah began firing rockets across the border earlier this month.
Israeli military spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin says operations in southern Lebanon are continuing with soldiers on the ground there.
“During the day, the chief of staff visited the northern command and approved plans for the continuation of the operation in Lebanon. As the chief of staff said, the shockwave of hitting and weakening the regime in Iran is felt in the campaign against Hezbollah as well. In the past 24 hours, forces of the 91st. Division began ground operation in central targets in southern Lebanon, as part of strengthening the defence of the northern communities.The forces destroy terror infrastructures and eliminate terrorists.”
Israel says it has mobilised more than 100,000 reservists as it prepares for what could become a prolonged conflict.
Now, aid agencies warn civilians are paying an increasingly heavy price.
United Nations officials say hospitals and infrastructure are under growing strain.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric says the escalation is devastating communities across Lebanon.
“The continued escalation of hostilities in Lebanon is… significantly affecting civilians, essential services, and civilian infrastructure. In just two weeks, twenty-eight attacks against health care centres have been reported by the World Health Organization, resulting in thirty deaths and some thirty-five injuries.”
Across Beirut and other cities, displaced families are now living in makeshift camps, having no faith that any negotiations that may take place between Israel and Lebanon will bring any result.
Mohammed Yassine a 60-year-old displaced Lebanese man, wants the war to end, and much like everyone else, wants Israeli soldiers on the ground in southern Lebanon to go home, and for him and his family to return to their home.
“"What negotiations? What about those people who died?... What matters to us first is them returning to their country and us returning to our hometown.”
For families like Iman Nayef’s, the war is not a distant political crisis.
It is children too frightened to sleep, and a mother trying to protect them.
Her message is simple.
“I need to go back to Australia with my kids safe you know, please.”
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That story by Essam Al-Ghalib for SBS News and Hamsa Abou Kheir for SBS Arabic, produced by (language broadcaster) for SBS News (in-language program).
