Members of Winnipeg’s Lebanese community worry as fighting between Israel, Hezbollah escalates

Posted on September 27, 2024 by Peggy

Members of Winnipeg’s Lebanese community say they’re concerned for family members overseas as thousands flee and fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalates.

Iranian-backed Hezbollah, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel almost immediately after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, saying it was a show of support for the Palestinians. Since then, it and the Israeli military have traded fire almost daily, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes on both sides of the border.

Winnipegger Abdullah Aboumrad, who owns Baraka Pita Bakery, said his family living in Lebannon can hear everything.

“They’re waking up in the night, just bombarded with explosions, and all the kids are waking up scared, crying,” he said.

“Then you move further to those places and you see the destruction,” he said.

A man stands and speaks to the camera. — Abdullah Aboumrad, who owns Baraka Pita Bakery, said he’s worried about the escalation of fighting. (CBC )

Israel dramatically intensified its airstrikes in Lebanon this week, saying it’s determined to put an end to more than 11 months of Hezbollah fire into its territory.

The escalated campaign has killed more than 720 people in Lebanon, including dozens of women and children, according to statistics from Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

George Chamaa, who owns Beaurivage on Corydon avenue, was born in Lebanon before moving to Winnipeg 40 years ago.

He told CBC News his sister lives in a small Lebanese town near the recent airstrikes.

“It’s two kilometres, the devastation was a big bomb just dropped on them,” he said. “Levelled everything in that area within like 200 metres.”

Chamaa said he believes Hezbollah has destroyed Lebanon and ruined democracy in the region.

He wasn’t surprised to see Israel attacking his homeland, but he doesn’t want to see any more lives lost.

“I’m looking for a peaceful ending, however that happens,” he said. “Because buildings you can rebuild, but people you cannot rebuild if they die.”

On Friday, the Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut in a series of massive explosions that levelled multiple high-rise apartment buildings.

The biggest blast to hit the Lebanese capital in the past year appeared likely to push the escalating conflict closer to full-fledged war.

At least six people were killed and 91 were wounded, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

An Associated Press report Friday said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the strikes on the group’s headquarters, according to two people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity, including one U.S. official.

The Israeli army declined to comment on who it was targeting.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Nasrallah was at the site, and Hezbollah did not comment on the report.

Israeli army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the strikes targeted the main Hezbollah headquarters, saying it was located underground beneath residential buildings.

It was not immediately clear if Nasrallah was at the site and Hezbollah did not comment on the report as of Friday night.

The series of blasts at around nightfall reduced six apartment towers to rubble in Haret Hreik, a densely populated, predominantly Shiite district of Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburbs, according to Lebanon’s national news agency. A wall of billowing black and orange smoke rose into the sky as windows were rattled and houses shaken some 30 kilometres north of Beirut.

Footage showed rescue workers clambering over large slabs of concrete, surrounded by high piles of twisted metal and wreckage.

Several craters were visible, one with a car toppled into it. A stream of residents carrying their belongings were seen fleeing along a main road out of the district.

The death toll is likely to rise significantly as teams are still combing through the rubble of six buildings. Israel launched a series of strikes on other areas of the southern suburbs following the initial blast.

Israel’s air forces followed with a new set of strikes early Saturday shortly after an Israeli military spokesman warned residents of three buildings to evacuate, saying they were being used by Hezbollah to hide weapons, including anti-ship missiles.

A building with smoke coming out of it. — Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (Hassan Amma/The Associated Press)

Meanwhile, Aboumrad told CBC News a family friend died in Friday’s bombings in Beirut.

He said Lebanese people are resilient, but he’s also scared.

“I think we’re getting into a war we don’t want to be in and you feel for your people, right?”

Winnipeggers with ties to Lebanon watch anxiously as violence intensifies

1 hour ago

Duration 2:07

Members of Winnipeg’s Lebanese community say they’re concerned for family members overseas as thousands flee and fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalates.