“Lebanon is on the brink of the abyss, I fear for its survival”: the anguish of the Lebanese of Gard

“I call my mother three times a day”… Left for vacation in Lebanon, the 87-year-old old lady is stuck there. “There are no more planes to return home, the airport is in the middle of a bombing zone and she will soon run out of medicine.” Bernard Hijazy’s family lives in Tripoli, the second largest city in the north of the country.

One million refugees

Away from the epicenter of the bombings but in a frightening war atmosphere. “Military planes flying overhead with a very distressing roar, bombs that sound like an earthquake when they explode. We hear children crying on the phone,” he says, his voice thick with emotion.

“I’m frozen, I feel like it’s an apocalypse film”continues the cardiologist who is worried about his family, his friends and all the civilians, victims of this conflict which is degenerating “Hamas, then Gaza, Beirut and now Iran… Lebanon is a bloodless country, on the brink of the abyss, I fear for its survival. Destiny persists…”

Successive wars have continued to empty the country, “the Lebanese diaspora is 14 million people”he insists. France is the only country that helps us. We must impose a ceasefire, open a humanitarian corridor. There are a million refugees from South Lebanon, people are sleeping on the sidewalks in Beirut, without tents and winter is coming…”