Bangladeshi National Killed in Israeli Strike on Lebanon

A Bangladeshi worker was killed in an airstrike in Lebanon, Bangladesh’s foreign ministry reported on Sunday, as efforts to evacuate citizens from the conflict zone are hindered by ongoing Israeli bombardments.

According to the ministry, around 70,000 to 100,000 Bangladeshi nationals are employed in Lebanon, mostly as laborers or domestic workers. In coordination with the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, Dhaka’s government organized initial flights last month to bring some Bangladeshis home from Beirut.

The deceased, Mohammad Nizam, 31, was reportedly killed in an airstrike on Saturday afternoon while stopping at a coffee shop on his way to work in Beirut, as confirmed by Bangladesh’s ambassador to Lebanon, Javed Tanveer Khan. Nizam, who had lived in Beirut for over a decade, was not among the roughly 1,800 Bangladeshis registered for repatriation flights.

Nizam’s older brother, Mohammad Jalaluddin, expressed his family’s wish to bring Nizam’s body back to Bangladesh for burial at their ancestral home, pending government assistance.

Shah Mohammad Tanvir Monsur, a senior official in Bangladesh’s foreign ministry, noted the increasing difficulty in arranging flights from Beirut, given the current hostilities. “The ongoing war has made it challenging to facilitate flights from Lebanon to Bangladesh,” Monsur explained, adding that evacuating registered citizens has become increasingly complicated.

Since September, Israel has intensified airstrikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, resulting in mass displacement and the launch of a ground offensive aimed at pushing Hezbollah forces back from the Israeli border. Over the past year, Hezbollah has fired thousands of projectiles into Israel, displacing tens of thousands of Israelis.

Since the conflict’s escalation on September 23, an estimated 1,930 people have been killed in Lebanon, based on health ministry figures. Israel reports 38 soldiers killed since it began ground operations on September 30. However, actual figures on both sides are likely higher due to incomplete data.