From Yarun to Philadelphia: Staying Alive in Lebanon

It is perhaps the understatement of the year to say that Michael F. (last name held by request) was in the wrong place at the wrong time:

I had put off coming to my Father’s homeland because there was always some kind of trouble or war going on… I figured after 10 years of peace and rebuilding here in Lebanon it was safe to come and see what where my father grew up and meet a bunch of relatives I didn’t know.

Of course the world is funny like that.

This is the story of an American visiting his grandfather’s home in the southern Lebanese village of Yarun when Hezbollah forces crossed the border and abducted two Israeli soldiers on July 12, 2006. Less than three weeks later, it is reported that 750 people have perished and 800,000 more made refugees.

With Michael’s permission, we have published his diary and select photographs from the day the Israeli military operations began to his miraculous escape of the country.

Prologue:

I have edited as little as possible. The only parts I left out were entries made specifically towards my family and my will.

I thought I was dead so I wrote a will along with my journal. I was hoping that if they found my body they would be kind enough to mail it to my family.

FYI, I was stuck in the village/town of Yarun, where most of the heavy fighting was taking place in and around of it. Maroun El Ras is to our east and Bint Jbail is to our north.

13 July 2006

Ok, so I had put off coming to my Father’s homeland because there was always some kind of trouble or war going on… I figured after 10 years of peace and rebuilding here in Lebanon it was safe to come and see what where my father grew up and meet a bunch of relatives I didn’t know.

Of course the world is funny like that. War breaks out. And I just happen to be in the worst place possible. I’m in the small town of Yarun, which so happens to be my ancestors town and the closest town on the border with Israel.

I don’t know if you guys have seen the news, but some incident occurred and right now Israel is shelling the crap out of Lebanon. All roads/bridges leading to the capital (Beirut) have been destroyed, in addition to all the major runways in the International Airport of Beirut have been destroyed by missiles from Israeli jets. So the Airport is closed indefinetly.

Good news/bad news. Good news since I’m currently so close to the border most of the shells/missiles/jets fly just over us. Bad news if Israel send troops in (which everyone here is expecting to happen) we will be occupied first.

I’m not really worried for my life. I have already contacted the U.S. Embassy to let them know where I am. They have told me to stay put, because its too dangerous to send for me or try to leave town on my own. And in the event that we are occupied all I have to do is flash my U.S. Passport and I should be alright.

But I am bummed out, I was having such a great time — learning new things, meeting new people, taking in a lot of history and just exploring the country in general in my rented car (a sweet Audi Quattro 2006 model, which I have no idea what to do with now if I have to be evacuated and leave it behind — the place I rented it from is about 50 miles away).

Oh well, life happens.

15 July 2006

Three days have passed. Since there pretty much isn’t anything else to do, I have decided to keep a journal.

The waiting game goes on. We are being shelled so much that whenever 15 minutes go by without a hit, we fear something even worse. Last night a missile hit the local power station, no more electricity for us. I went to a house that has a power generator but they are using it sparingly since there are no gas stations to refill the power generator. We can still move around town a little bit going from neighbor to neighbor but anyone using a car is kept to a minimum.

The worst sound so far is the constant purring of the unmanned spy place that buzzes around us constantly. It’s amazing how much I have learned in these few days — I can tell apart incoming and outgoing attacks and tell where they will hit from them sound they make. We pass time by playing Spades. I have made great friends with some Australians that live next door to my house (grandfather’s house really).

16 July 2006

They have cut the only thing keeping me sane. Cell phone service, the only direct connection between me and my family and friends is no more. At least we still have phone land lines. I hope it doesn’t come to it, that would surely drive us crazy not to mention my relatives and friends back home. The conflict/crisis is escalating and we can all feel it. Some houses on the town border have had direct hits from shells. As long as we stay put we should be fine.

A town next to us was ordered to be evacuated by the Israeli army. Four cars filled with people tried to leave but since all the roads were destroyed, they tried to get to a UN base that was nearby. They were turned away because they refuse to take refuges. With no where else to go, they tried to return home. They were killed, small children and all.

A local grocery store opened today and was promptly emptied out in less than two hours. Good thing we have a fridge full of goods, still I don’t expect this to go on for more than a week.

I am whipping them Aussie boys playing Spades.

17 July 2006

It’s been about one week since the war-crisis or whatever you want to call it started. Last night was the worst one yet. An Israeli fighter jet fired a missile straight into three story house that is less than 200 feet from the house I was in at the time. I can honestly say that I thought I was going to die.

There has never been a longer 4 seconds in my life than the ones that passed from when the plane shot the missile until it hit the house. The force of the blast was so strong that all the windows in the house I was in shattered on impact. It was believed there were 4 people in the house, but to be honest no one went to look for any survivors fearing a second attack.

At this point all we can do is sit and wait.

I call the U.S. Embassy once more asking what their evacuation strategy is for the over 200 us citizens stuck along me in Yaroun. They gave me the fuck yourself answer of “our plan is that you get to Beirut on your own and then watch TV until we come up with a solution.” This plan would be great if not for the small fact that ALL THE FUCKING ROADS HAVE BEEN BOMBED TO HELL AND ANY CARS THAT ATTEMPT TO LEAVE THE AREA ARE BEING BLOWN UP.

I really have to hand it to our government — it’s nice to see my tax dollars at work. My only consolation is that there are many more Americans and Australians stuck in the same predicament as I am.

I honestly have stopped fearing for my life. There are 6 young children with us and every time a shell hits near us they cry and hide. There is no way l will be the same if we ever get through this. One of the kids has lost control and just wets himself — he is 9 years old.

No sleep or any food for me today. It’s not for lack of food, hard to get an appetite going when you don’t know if your last breath will be your last.

18 July 2006

Another shell filled night with the big highlight being that at 1:00 am a fighter jet unleashed 4 air to surface missiles into a hill right in front of us. Each time a hear the shriek of those missiles I almost wish one would just come down on us and end this suffering. I have barely eaten in 2 days.

No cell phone.
No running water.
No electricity.
No TV. (save for one hour a day when we turn on the motor to see the news)
No internet.
No leaving the house.
No idea what will happen to us.
Worst of all my family back home is worried to death.

You want to know another thing I miss? Ice cubes. After 3 days of drinking room temperature water and juice, you would too.

19 July 2006

Just when I think it can’t get much worse than this. All telephone land lines in our town have been cut. Our only glimmer of hope and connection to help and our families has been taken away from us. Kind of ironic since my last conversation yesterday afternoon with the U.S. Embassy was promising; they actually had a plan for us and they last told us just wait by the phone and they would call us and inform us what was to be done.

I find it sad that my last conversation with my family was me arguing with them to stop calling so much. I guess I won’t have that problem anymore.

We can only take a few more days of this. Pretty soon our drinking water will run out. Add to the fact that not many people have food and living essentials to weather out a prolonged war.

We seem to be the forgotten ones. Whenever we see the news it’s all about the poor tourists in Beirut waiting to be evacuated. I wish I had that problem; we are waiting to be saved.

We are considering making a run to Syria; if we hear of any road that’s open we will have to take that chance.

I managed to have breakfast today, first good meal in 3 days. I couldn’t manage to sleep though, hard to do when you are being fired upon at a rate of about 40 shells an hour.

2:00 pm

After hearing some of the closest ground to ground combat yet, we hear on the radio the battle that is unfolding around us. Israeli ground troops have entered Lebanon in Gaitaroun (a town just east of us), they were promptly engaged by Hezbollah. Hell has been unleashed, fearing for our safety we moved to an uncle’s house.

Our judgment couldn’t have been wiser, battle has engaged less than 500 yards from were we where in the morning. I can see from our location three separate battles.

As I am typing this, a close by neighbor comes in tears. She was looking for medicine for one of her infant children, but can’t go back into town because of the ground combat. Only a mother looking out for her children will be crazy/brave enough to go out right now.

Life sucks.

I keep thinking of so many things I want to say to my loved ones back home.

20 July 2006

11:00 am

I have promised myself to stop using the phrase “it cannot get much worse than this.”

They same battle that started yesterday afternoon is now going on stronger than ever. It has spilled into our town.

If we hadn’t fled our house yesterday evening, I probably wouldn’t be typing this right now. My grandfather’s house is no more, it was behind the local gas station, and suffered the same fate.

It appears Israeli troops are now in Lebanese soil.

We are currently in an uncle’s house that is on the border of the town. We are on the second highest hill so we have a clear view of most everything. More like me and my uncle, since everyone else is hiding in the basement. Apache helicopters are hovering over us. As are Israeli jets. My digital camera is running out of batteries, but I have managed to take some pictures, I hope someone gets to see them.

You know its bad when you start writing your will. I have written that along with copies of this journal, and all my personal information into two separate memory cards.

If anyone finds this , I hope they are kind enough to send it to my family.

4:00 pm

It’s been dead quiet for two hours now. These are the moments that make me even more nervous, sort of like the calm before the storm. We’ll see what happens.

5:00 pm

The battle is back on, though most of it seems to be behind a mountain to our north.

21 July 2006

We saw a nice light show yesterday night. In what seemed like an unending stream of flares. I have seen flares before, but never like these. They burned as bright as day and they sure took their time coming down.

I have become numb to the constant thunder of heavy shelling. They are far from us, so no immediate harm to us.

22 July 2006

Beginning at around 9:00pm last night and nonstop into today was the fiercest and closest battle to us yet. Since it was night, we had no way of knowing where it was taking place. But we felt it… louder than ever before. The worst part of it was not knowing were the battle was taking place. We knew it was as close as it could be. Debris and shrapnel was hitting the house and we kept hearing windows break. A few times the blasts were so close that we thought we were goners, funny how you start praying when you think you are about to die.

As the battle raged on into sunset, I crept out of the basement we were in to try to see what was happening around us. Most of the close blasts were to an empty field that is about 200 feet to our west and the others were about 100 feet to our north. The fighting stopped at about 8 am.

I want to send a big ‘fuck you!’ to the US Embassy, not only has all their advice (up until our phones were cut) sucked, but no effort has been made to help all of us trapped in Southern Lebanon.

If this keeps up, we might just flee on foot since it’s too dangerous to go in cars. It’s a 80 mile hike. I hate to think of dragging along 16 people with me (including 5 kids under age 6).

23 July 2006

This day begins very ominously, the battle for the city to our east (Maroun El- Ras) wages on. At 7 am smoke bombs drop all around us, this means only one thing, a big battle is going to take place right around us. We fear the worst since crossfire doesn’t differentiate between civilians and soldiers.

9:00 am

Shelling has begun. A shell hits the house we are in, destroying the power generator room and half of the driveway. Debris breaks 2 of the 4 cars’ windows that are parked there. I honestly don’t think we will make it.

1:00 am

SALVATION!

In-between a break in shelling my cousin sees a group of flags fleeing town lead by one of the local taxi drivers (who happens to know most every back road there is in Lebanon). Without hesitation we all cram ourselves into 3 cars hoping to follow them to a safe route out of this hell.

With only the clothes I am wearing and cash/documents in my pockets, we head out hoping to catch up with them. As soon as we get on the road a missile from a plane is fired over us — luckily its target was behind us. Everything I brought with me (clothes, laptop, personal items, ipod, PSP, keys) stayed behind and I couldn’t care less. We are finally leaving this hellhole.

Soon we catch up on what has become a 30 car caravan with every car carrying a improvised white flag made up of a broomstick and a T-Shirt or piece of cloth. About 20 minutes into the drive one of the cars we had gets a flat tire, we have no time to change it since any minute now fighter jets could come and destroy our improvised convoy. All the people in that car get out and leave it in the middle of the road.

So there’s relatively new Mercedes Benz 300 series with only a flat tire for anyone that wants it, just go to the South of Lebanon. The keys are in the ignition.

After five hours of driving all around Lebanon we make it and all the cars meet at the entrance of Beirut. We hear news of three cars that didn’t make their final destination, missiles caught up with them in a town called Saida.

I can speak of all the ruins and destruction I saw that was made on this act of ’self defense’ by Israel. All the bridges and residential buildings that no longer stood, all the innocent civilians that were killed, all the relatives that are still missing, but at this point I am beat.

12 days of battle with a almost no sleep/food or any of the luxuries we take for granted does that to you.

Once I arrive I call the embassy. I need to go tomorrow morning to a nearby port to see if I can catch one of the ships taking us evacuees.

Epilogue:

I have to make note that after arriving at Beirut, the U.S. Embassy really pulled through for us. It took about about 48 hours of nonstop travel using cruise ships/bus and planes before I finally arrived in Philadelphia.

On a sadder note, one of the Aussie boys I played cards with wasnt as lucky as I was…a missile hit his house and he suffered some injuries, he lost an eye and hearing in one ear.

August 2nd, 2006 in Current Events, Photography, Travel |