the essential
Kamal Sarkis’s concerns went up a notch this weekend. This Lebanese Franco who lives in Cahors still has his parents, brothers and sister in Lebanon where strikes by the Israeli army are intensifying. At the same time, part of his in-laws still live in Ukraine.
Kamal Sarkis has a racing heart. On his passport, the 49-year-old from Lotois has as many stamps from Lebanon as from Ukraine. This is because his in-laws live in Ukraine and his family in Lebanon. Two countries, two conflicts. And since the explosion of Hezbollah agents’ pagers on September 18, tension has risen a notch in Lebanon where he was born. The anxiety with it. “My 8 year old said to me this weekend: We already didn’t see our grandparents much in Ukraine, now we will no longer be able to see our grandparents in Lebanon “, says Kamal Sarkis, former physiotherapist and president of the Mainstendes association in Cahors. His other 6-year-old son summed up the situation with his child’s eyes: “When I go to my brother’s room, I respect his business. Why can’t countries do this for others? “
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Kamal Sarkis’ parents are in Broummana, a village overlooking Beirut. His brother is a surgeon in a hospital in the capital. When the pagers went off, he treated 150 injured people out of the 3,000 victims of the attack. Her sister lives in Bekaa, an agricultural plain and an area that is under bombardment by the Israeli army. “I have news every day on the Whatsapp group with my brothers and sisters. We manage to make video calls but often, because of the poor network, the image is very pixelated,” she explains.
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On screen, his sister is drowned under a cascade of squares. This virtual “group of 7” (they are 7 brothers and sisters) is his only link with his family remaining in Lebanon. “Until this weekend, for us, it was unfortunately a normal situation. In Lebanon, we have only known war. When we go shopping and a bombing breaks out, we remain stoic and we simply said we’ll come back for the salad later. In 1982, I saw an Israeli soldier take out his bayonet. In fact, he just cut a watermelon that we shared together,” he recalls.
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But since the announcement of the death of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, the situation has changed. “It’s like a big kick in a hornet’s nest. There is a general tension, an unbearable stress,” he slips. His 96-year-old father and 91-year-old mother begged him to stay in Cahors, not to join them. “It is more and more difficult for them to go out shopping. My father is on oxygen, it is an even more difficult daily life. They also fear looting because we are already witnessing exoduses of populations from the south who are fleeing the bombings and who are left to their own devices,” continues the Lotois father.
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If his brothers had not been at their side, he would have braved the war to go to their bedside. Since he returned to France thirty years ago, Kamal Sarkis has managed to return to Lebanon every year. This year, he gave it up. He already knows that he will spend Christmas far from his family. The exile hopes to raise funds for Lebanese associations and NGOs. But the situation is so unstable and uncertain that it is still impossible to know what the Lebanese will miss.
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At the same time, he also suffered the war in Ukraine. His wife Anastasiia still has part of her family there. This summer, the couple managed to repatriate their grandmother, her aunt and her two daughters. “When we talk about the family, paternal or maternal, my children are always on the verge of tears. I have experienced this all my life. Each time, the pawns change but history repeats itself.” To endure wars, Kamal Sarkis has a long-standing refuge: prayer.