Kilkenny woman asks Government to help bring family and fiancé back home from Lebanon

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on villages in the Nabatiyeh district, Lebanon, on Monday. Picture: AP/Hussein Malla

A Kilkenny-based woman is calling on the Irish Government to help in her evacuation from Beirut and for consular assistance so she can bring her Lebanese fiancé with her to Ireland.

Gadier Zabad, who came to Ireland from Lebanon in 2006, said she felt her life was in danger “every second” of the past 24 hours.

Ms Zabad's father, Munier, told how the family had travelled to south Lebanon two weeks ago for a funeral.

The visit was also to mark the engagement of his daughter Gadier, he told RTÉ, which was due to have been celebrated with a breakfast between both families but had to be cancelled when the Israeli bombardment began. 

He said the family had to flee the village where they were staying in the mountains when the bombing started.

The situation was overwhelming, he said. The journey to Beirut had been dangerous and stressful, with traffic accidents happening frequently as people were driving quickly trying to get away. “It's just complete chaos.” 

Since arriving in Beirut, he learned an uncle had been killed when his house was bombed.

Ms Zabad said the flight they had hoped to take on Monday was cancelled so they were now calling on the Irish Government to help them to get home to Kilkenny.

“They sent an email saying that the flight was cancelled and that we could take another flight over the coming days. I checked the flight situation for the next few days, and there is none available whatsoever.

“I'm calling on the Irish Government to help get my family and my fiancé out of Lebanon.” 

Ms Zabad acknowledged her fiancé was a Lebanese citizen, but pointed out she and her younger brother had fled to Ireland in 2006 so she hoped he could do the same.

The dilemma was that she did not want to leave her fiancé behind and if she stayed, her father would feel compelled to do likewise and she did not want to put her family in danger.

This comes after the Lebanese health ministry confirmed on Monday nearly 500 were killed by Israeli strikes across Lebanon.

Israel Defence Forces officials said in an update shared online that warplanes targeted "dozens of sites" in the south of Lebanon.