Cardiff Uni lecturer considers getting family out of Lebanon himself as fighting escalates

This comes as UK Foreign Office urges Brits to leave the country

2 months ago

A Cardiff University professor has said that he is considering getting his family out of Lebanon after the UK Foreign Office warned British nationals to leave.

Speaking with Greatest Hits Radio, British-Lebanese professor, Ahmed Hankir, 42, said that he is prepared to go to Lebanon and “carry” his elderly father out of the country, after witnessing the “extremely difficult” conditions his parents were living in, in August.

Hankir who was born in Belfast, after his parents moved from Lebanon to the UK in the 1980s, has strongly encouraged his family, who have British passports, to leave the country and return to the UK.

Hankir said “nowhere in Lebanon is really safe” after his parents fled their home in Sidon, south Lebanon to join Hankir’s sister in Beirut, as airstrikes continue.

Adding that the situation in Lebanon is becoming “increasingly precarious, volatile and unstable” as fighting between Hezbollah and Israel continues.

His parents intend to stay with his sister in Beirut, the country’s capital, despite the UK Foreign Office warning British nationals to leave.

“They would prefer to stay, it’s home, and when you live in a place for almost your entire life, then understandably you become attached to that place” said Hankir.

However, Hankir told Hits Radio news that he fears further escalation of conflict after Israel rejected a 21-day ceasefire proposal.

Adding: “I have a foreboding that it will continue to escalate, and that they Israel ultimately want to invade Lebanon.”

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