Second eyewitness message from Lebanon

Saida (Sidon) 12th century castle - Wiki image

Pat Gaffney, Vice President of Pax Christi, shares a message from a close friend who lives in Lebanon. This is the second message, received on 11 March 2026 Pat writes: my friend and her family, Palestinian British, are re-living their experiences of 2024.

Good morning, Pat. We are still home in Saida. In the past two days Saida had its share of Israeli missiles from the sea though, so neither a warning to evacuate from the Israeli army spokesperson nor a physical warning from the sound of fighter jets in the sky.

The Palestinian camp Ain el Helweh was bombed from the sea on Sunday.

This was particularly scary as I was at the school/shelter gate picking up E, close to Iftar time, for some petrifying minutes nobody knew where the missiles fell.

But everybody wanted to move into whatever direction possible, blind to the location. Imagine that I found comfort at that time that both my children were with me in the car!

Since yesterday, Tuesday, the Israeli spokesperson issued an evacuation warning for an area in Saida between our home and the school. There has been no bombing for the area yet, of course people evacuated as ordered! In the middle of that we had to drive to school to collect books from lockers. We delayed our departure waiting for the missiles to fall and then find the "relief" that the warning was executed!

What a nerve wrecking time we go through every hour of every day. During the last war there were so many fighter jets breaking the wall of sound, however, none since this renewed war. All the sounds are those of real bombs and missiles coming from sky, sea and land. The FCDO still has no evacuation plans; I hope this is because they believe things will calm down very soon. People are far more scared this time than last year, the Gaza style bombing, mass evacuation orders, the shelling down of whole buildings, the missiles coming from all directions and the fact that we have not recovered yet from last year's war. The Israeli bombing, drones, and fighter jets have never left the South of Lebanon since October 2023.

E started online schooling today and L will follow on Friday. probably 50% of the students and teachers are displaced, I hope this will serve as a psychological relief for the children. Not too concerned about actual learning. I will leave you now Pat and write again soon. Greetings to all of you dear.

See also:
Eyewitness message from Lebanon: www.indcatholicnews.com/news/54522