STV NewsA Glasgow man has been left fearing for the safety of his fiancée and family members after they were forced to evacuate their homes in Lebanon as violence escalates.
Hadi Fayad, a UK citizen originally from south Lebanon, who works at the Beirut Star restaurant in Glasgow, said the situation for his family escalated quickly as conflict between Israel and Hezbollah continues.
UK citizens are being urged to leave Lebanon as Israel launched an intense series of air strikes earlier this week.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah fired a ballistic missile at Tel Aviv, the first time it has targeted central Israel since the exchanges broke out around Israel’s northern border.
The UK is sending around 700 troops to Cyprus in case an emergency evacuation of Lebanon is required.
Hadi’s fiancée and multiple family members were evacuated from Ansar just a month after celebrating his engagement with family in the country.
He said: “They told us they were hearing explosions. We told them ‘pack your bags straight away and evacuate’.
“They evacuated and on the highway it was packed with four hours of traffic.
“There was bombing all around them and I think one bomb actually hit the highway, thankfully nobody was hurt.”
Hadi’s mum and dad’s brothers, two grandmothers on both sides and all of his fiancée’s family had to be evacuated from Ansar, around 20 mins from major cities.
Much of the village is believed to have been reduced to rubble.
He added: “It’s terrible [that my fiancée is out there].
“It’s very, very tough, especially on the highway when they evacuated, there was no service so we’re trying to communicate when nothing’s sending and all you hear is the news, it’s very stressful.
“On Monday, after four hours thankfully the communications happened again and every now and then I’ll see the double tick, so I know the message was sent.
“Once they communicated that they were safe, we felt much more comfortable and relaxed.
“It’s very, very difficult to focus on anything, it’s tough.”
Hadi said staying in Beirut is all his family can do as Lebanese passports can’t travel to the UK.
He added: “We hope it deescalates and it completely stops the war, we don’t want this war to be happening because it benefits nobody.
“It is so much suffering, so much destruction, half of my village probably has to be rebuilt now.
“Its a tough situation. Its very stressful, we don’t know when our house could be next.”
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said an immediate ceasefire is needed and advised British nationals in Lebanon to “leave now”.
Commercial routes out of Lebanon could become cut off as airlines are suspending flights to the country because of the escalating violence.
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