Fearing Israeli Strikes on Airport, Lebanese Flee by Sea

Hassan Alik, escaping the intensifying violence of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, departed Lebanon on Saturday aboard a ship, avoiding Beirut’s airport, which he feared “could be bombed at any time.”

The 31-year-old headed to the northern port of Tripoli on Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast. So far, this area has been spared from Israeli attacks during a month of heavy fighting across much of the country. Although Lebanon’s international airport remains undamaged, the Israeli military warned last month that it could strike the airport to disrupt weapons transfers to Hezbollah, backed by Iran.

Fearing an attack, many Lebanese seeking to leave have chosen a 13-hour sea journey to Turkey on cargo ships modified for passengers, rather than flying from Beirut’s airport. The airport had been targeted during Israel’s last major war with Hezbollah in 2006.

“I’m leaving from here because I’m scared to use the airport,” said Alik from the port in Tripoli. “If I buy a plane ticket, the airport could get bombed,” added the resident of Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold that has been hit hard during recent bombings.

Israel launched its intense air campaign on Lebanon on September 23, following almost a year of cross-border exchanges with Hezbollah, in connection with the Gaza war. Israeli ground forces later joined the assault. The ongoing conflict has claimed at least 1,454 lives in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally based on Lebanese health ministry reports, though the actual number is likely higher.

Most airlines, except for national carrier Middle East Airlines, have stopped flying to Beirut due to the hostilities.

The large ships departing from Tripoli, once used exclusively for cargo to southern Turkey, began taking passengers about a year ago, offering tickets for around $350, according to Captain Salem Jleilati. Since the conflict escalated in September, demand for these trips has surged from 150 passengers a week to at least 900.

Muammar Malas, 52, from northern Lebanon, said he chose to travel by sea because it was difficult to reach Beirut’s airport, which is located near Hezbollah’s stronghold in the southern suburbs. “The cargo ships aren’t built for passengers, but we have no other choice,” Malas explained.

More than a million people have fled the violence across Lebanon, officials reported. Mohammad Hawar, 22, has already been displaced twice, first from the southern city of Nabatieh, where Israeli strikes killed dozens of people, and later from southern Beirut. “The best thing to do now is leave Lebanon,” he told AFP as he boarded the ship.

Israa Sweidan, a Palestinian woman from the Beddawi refugee camp, which has also been targeted, said the sea route from Tripoli was “currently the safest option in Lebanon.”