Utah family fears for safety of loved ones in Lebanon
Sep 23, 2024, 10:42 PM | Updated: 10:50 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — When you step into the Beirut Café, you’re transported to Fatima Soweidan’s home in southern Lebanon. On Monday, as customers enjoyed family recipes, Fatima’s thoughts were with her loved ones half a world away.
“It’s all over the news. Everybody is seeing what is going on,” Soweidan said. “I have a sister there with her kids and her husband. All my friends all my cousins, everybody is there so they are separated right now. They don’t know where to go. They’re just trying to hide themselves, trying to save themselves.”
Soweidan working at the Beirut Café. (KSL TV)
On Monday, the Israeli military launched another attack in their conflict against Hezbollah. Israeli airstrikes killed some 500 people, including women and children, and left more than 1,600 wounded.
“I just heard right now, 25 people [in my town] died. One bomb it come up all of them, they killed them all,” Soweidan said. “One of them, my cousin, was pregnant. She’s 20 years old. Not everyone from Lebanon is [part of] Hezbollah.”
Soweidan shared a picture of her cousins in Lebanon. They are believed to be among the dead. Amid international fears of a regional escalation and a wider war, Soweidan prays for peace.
Soweidan’s cousins who were in Lebanon when the attacks happened. (Courtesy Fatima Soweidan)
“I’m not going to say I’m afraid. I’m going to say it’s not fair for innocent people to get killed like that,” she said. “We can’t kill each other.”
Soweidan said that communication lines are down, so information is trickling in slowly.
