Britons describe life in Lebanon

Britons in Lebanon have described locals being scared to sleep with their phones by their beds in the face of attacks using explosive devices, while others have described a sense of “existential panic” in the country over ongoing attacks between Israel and Hezbollah.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has urged British citizens to leave the country, warning the situation could “deteriorate rapidly”.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, 37 people were killed and thousands injured in explosions of portable communication devices used by Hezbollah members and civilians in Lebanon and Syria.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday that attacks on the country using pagers were an “act of war.”

Israel has not claimed responsibility or commented on the events, but is widely believed to be behind the attacks. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday that a “new phase of the war” was beginning.

A British woman from Basingstoke, who runs an NGO in Lebanon and does not want to be named, said she has no plans to return to the UK despite advice from the Foreign Secretary.

“Never say never, but no, I really don’t plan on going back (to the UK). I’m still in Beirut,” she said AND.

The 34-year-old has been living there on and off since 2019.

“I feel pretty relaxed. I don’t get stressed unless I’m in physical danger. I didn’t see or hear any explosions, I was home and working.”

“I feel bad that my mood probably doesn’t reflect the mood of the rest of the country, but I went out to dinner last night and I mean, we were the only people in the restaurant we went to. So I think people are obviously scared.”

He describes the psychological impact of recent Israeli attacks on the population. “People are now too scared to sleep with their phones by their beds. People are afraid of the laptops that the organization gave them, worried that they will explode.”

“I can’t say I feel that way about my iPhone, but I know a lot of people do.”

“I think it’s all just very uncertain,” he says, adding, “I don’t know what it’s going to be. I mean, it seems like (Israel) couldn’t go any further than destroying Hezbollah’s infrastructure and having a huge impact on them, so maybe that’s what (will push them into a full-blown war).”

“I get a lot of messages from friends who just tell me to go home.”

Tom Young, 51, is from Northamptonshire but has lived in Beirut for 15 years. He left Lebanon in August to return to the UK amid talk of imminent war following threats of retaliation from Iran following the killings of key Hezbollah and Hamas officials by Israel.

He says the noise of Israeli planes flying over Beirut “really stressed me out.”

“It was very hard for me to leave my loved ones, my friends, my girlfriend and my beloved cat,” he says.

Mr Young, who is an artist, says he feels “really anxious, that’s the best word to describe it – even though I’m not there”.

“I have a 92-year-old father who has a weak heart, and my presence has had a significant impact on his health. It’s a family of two, and I’m an only child, so I have an extra responsibility to think about.”

“If it weren’t for my father, I would probably have stayed in the mountains,” he says, where he feels safe.

“I thought I didn’t want to fall into a trap if the Israelis bombed the airport and destroyed the country’s main infrastructure, which they said they were going to do.”

“I’ve talked to my girlfriend a lot, and of course people are really scared. This is a horrific form of war that the world has never seen before.”

The UK Government has not yet condemned the Israeli attacks, despite some MPs calling for it to do so.

Green Party MP Carla Denyer said in October: “No state should be allowed to break international law with impunity. The attacks in Lebanon – widely believed to have been carried out by Mossad – are killing civilians. The UK Government should condemn them unequivocally and firmly challenge Gallant’s trumpeted ‘new phase’ of deadly warfare.”

“It’s a double standard and the hypocrisy and complicity of the West just disgusts me,” Mr Young said.

“I can’t believe the UK government is providing diplomatic cover for this disgusting regime. It’s awful.”

Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon intensified on Thursday and Friday, with many now expecting the main front of the war to shift from Gaza to the Lebanese border with Israel.

“I understand that there is a kind of existential panic spreading across the country. The Israelis are deciding to terrorize not just Hezbollah but the entire country,” Mr. Young said.

“It’s a war of attrition and kind of a guessing game (of what happens next).”