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The Israeli offensive is leaving many children psychologically scared. (Reuters)
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WORLD CAPITALS — Thousands of foreigners
scrambling to flee war-ravaged Lebanon spoke of terror and destruction
inflicted on the tiny Arab country by the Israeli military juggernaut.
"It was horrible. I saw dead children, some
missing legs and arms," 27-year-old Guadalupe Arana told Agence
France-Presse (AFP) at Madrid airport.
"It was very difficult to get out - we had to
run the gauntlet through Tyre and Sidon," she said, referring to
two Lebanese towns targeted by Israeli strikes.
"It's a miracle I made it."
A man from Barcelona spoke of "terror and
destruction all around" the Arab country.
"It's just chaotic."
The two were members of a 152-strong batch of
people flown out of Lebanon on a government-chartered jet carrying
mostly women and children.
Since July 12 Israel has killed more than 300
people, all but 23 are civilians, in deadly air strikes.
More than 500 people have been wounded.
Beirut international airport has been knocked out,
ports bombed, bridges destroyed, power stations set ablaze and houses
turned to rubble in scenes reminiscent of the country's devastating
1975-1990 civil war.
Around 15 petrol stations have been blown up, along
with fuel depots and water pumping stations.
The onslaught has also left Lebanon virtually cut
off from the outside world with an Israeli air and sea blockade.
The highway from Beirut to the Syrian capital
Damascus was cut on Tuesday after being repeatedly hit in recent days.
Terror
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Evacuee spoke of destruction everywhere in Lebanon. (Reuters)
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The Israeli bloody offensive will only not only
psychologically scars on Lebanese children alone.
"We could hear the bombs falling. I was
afraid," said a seven-year-old girl.
Italy's Telenews news agency said evacuees arriving
in Rome also spoke of bloody scenes of war.
A girl living in Lebanon said she was "sick
only to think of it.
"Every day the situation gets worse; there are
no words."
Cristina Foti, who works at the Italian cultural
institute in Tripoli and is married to a Lebanese, said she left for
the sake of her 13-day-old daughter.
"I could not stand this atmosphere of war.
People were very courageous."
But she added that she would go back to Lebanon as
soon as calm returns.
"Lebanon is unfortunately again engulfed by
conflict. I'm very much afraid of this escalation, for my parents and
all Lebanese," said Alessandro Salameh, one of the evacuees.
"The international community must find a
solution because this is not a regional problem but a regional
international one. I've seen a war," he added.
Exodus
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Thousands of foreigners were still scrambling to flee Israel's bombardment of Lebanon Wednesday. (Reuters)
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Thousands of foreigners were still scrambling to
flee Israel's bombardment of Lebanon Wednesday.
The mass evacuation gained momentum after Israel
launched more deadly air attacks on the seventh day of its bloody.
Apparently agreeing to briefly halt Lebanon's sea
blockade, Israel said it has made arrangements with several Western
governments for a major evacuation of foreign nationals from Lebanon
Wednesday involving 20 vessels.
Ships with hundreds of foreigners on board were set
to arrive Wednesday on the tranquil Mediterranean island of Cyprus,
with no ceasefire in sight to end Israel's relentless campaign.
Britain, hoping to evacuate some 5,000 of its
nationals by the end of the week, started to pull out the first 180
British citizens on board the destroyer HMS Gloucester.
Also due to arrive in Cyprus was a Norwegian
charter ship with 1,100 people including 500 Swedes and several
hundred Americans on board.
The US ordered nine warships to waters off the
Lebanese coast to bring out thousands of Americans.
It flew 120 citizens out of Beirut Tuesday on the
third day of an air bridge that is to be followed by a mass evacuation
by sea, amid criticism that Washington's reaction has been too slow.
The United Nations said it was evacuating all
non-essential staff from the Arab country.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora accused Israel
of "committing massacres against Lebanese civilians and working
to destroy everything that allows Lebanon to stay alive."
He said the intensifying aggression "in this
barbaric way proves that Israel has decided to push Lebanon back 50
years."
