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War in the Middle East: leave or stay, the dilemma of the French in Lebanon
War in the Middle East: leave or stay, the dilemma of the French in Lebanon
(France 2)
Faced with Israeli bombings in Lebanon, French nationals living in the country are hesitating between leaving or staying. Le 20 Heures met two of them in Beirut.
Nathalie Mejean hesitated for a long time, but it is now decided. Expatriated since February 2024 in Beirut (Lebanon), this Frenchwoman is preparing to return to France on Tuesday October 1st. She came to Beirut for a three-year mission for the French-speaking world. But she decided to leave in the face of bombings and the rumbling coming from the sky, caused by Israeli drones, invisible to the naked eye. Nathalie Mejean plans to return to Lebanon, but she does not know when. In the distance, the dull sound of a new explosion rang out. An apartment in a building in southwest Beirut has just been targeted by the Israelis. This is a targeted strike, according to the IDF, without further details.
Leave or stay? Franco-Lebanese, Alfred Asseily, the owner of a French restaurant, is exhausted from asking himself the question with each new crisis. Reluctantly, it closes for a month. There are no more customers and the journeys are too risky for his employees. With his wife, they are divided on the decision to take, as long as the Israeli strikes spare the Christian quarter of Beirut where they are based. “For the moment, I’m staying”he says.
“The French embassy is currently identifying candidates for departure, with priority for the most sensitive cases. Additional aircraft rotations will be set up in the coming days, with the Lebanese national airline”says Stéphanie Perez, special correspondent in Beirut.
Watch the full report in the video above.