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00:00I want to bring you the view of a Lebanese citizen living in Beirut right now because
00:08Doha Sabah is a Lebanese citizen. I met Doha in June. It was a children's park in Paris.
00:14Our little boys were playing there. She left the south of Lebanon. Her family wanted to
00:18start a new life here in Paris. Her father had a seizure several days ago, rushed to
00:23hospital in Beirut. That's where we can speak to Doha now. Doha, in the midst of explosions
00:29right now, we're hearing. First of all, it's great to have you on the programme. Give us
00:33an idea of what's going on there. Have you heard the explosions? Can you see them where
00:37you are? I think we're struggling with the line for Doha. I'll try and go back to Doha
00:48when we can speak. But these images we're getting live at the moment from the capital
00:54of Lebanon. Explosions there. I think we're going back to Doha. If you can hear me, it's
00:59great to have you on the programme this evening. Just tell me your situation at the moment
01:02and what it's like to be in Beirut right now. Actually, we just heard the bombings that
01:08happened minutes ago. It was a bit frightening for us because they were so close. We imagined
01:19that maybe Beirut is a bit more secure than the south, but it doesn't seem so. I don't
01:26know. It was a very stressful week for the Lebanese civilians. A complete attack, a vast
01:37war we can say, suddenly erupted on Lebanese citizens. And while we hear media say that
01:45it's an attack on a certain group or on Hezbollah, the main targets are civilian houses of these
01:53civilians, their businesses, the things that they worked hard for. And apparently, the main
02:03goal of all of this campaign is to terrorise the Lebanese civilians and to oblige them to
02:14leave their homes. There were already 80,000 to 90,000 people who fled their homes in the extreme
02:25south. And now we are seeing the total area of the south evacuated. Since yesterday, the Ministry
02:38of Health announced that the number of casualties so far is 1,400 people. I wanted to show some of
02:46the photos of these casualties. It's all the children, women, teachers in many villages.
02:59These are very famous in their villages because they are people who are contributing to their
03:08community. There are aid workers. The Lebanese are usually well-educated people who love to
03:20give back to their country. You know, Lebanon passed through a very stressful economic period or crisis in the
03:30last years. And these people, despite the complete governmental neglect, are working hard to get things rolling.
03:42Many of these people have two jobs or are entrepreneurs, and they are doing the impossible possible. And to lose such a
03:53human capital is really disheartening.
03:56Doha, tell me about your situation, because it is quite unbelievable, really, just the bad luck that you've had
04:04going back to help your father, who had a seizure in hospital. He was taken to Beirut from the south. You were born in
04:10the south. You grew up in the south. And one of your family was killed in the past few days as well.
04:17Yes, actually, I was born in the south. I lived all of my life in the south. I did my master's in the US, and I got
04:25married to a French citizen. And because this French citizen fell in love with Lebanon and with the area, we chose to
04:35buy a house in south Lebanon, because it's a beautiful nature and beautiful area. And last year, when all of this drama
04:44started, I was frankly frightened, because I lived so far, three previous wars as a child, and I'm a bit traumatized. My
04:55neighbors were killed in 1995, when we were under occupation. In 1996, I had to live all of the agonies of the war as a
05:03small child. And then in 2006, I didn't want my child to live that drama again. So I insisted that we leave to France. And
05:15then two weeks ago, I had a call telling me that my father had a seizure. So we came back and we discovered that my father
05:23had a cancer brain tumor and had to go do an urgent surgery. And while we were in this drama, everything started. My father
05:36was exited from the hospital before the time he needed, because there were already many people coming to the hospital.
05:48So this was around the time that the pages were exploding, the walkie talkies were exploding, the hospitals were becoming
05:52full.
05:53Exactly. And we were in a hospital in Beirut suburbs. And because my dad had to come for a medical review from the south, they only
06:09could escape the bad destiny of the other people who got killed on the road while escaping their homes. And the people who had to
06:24stay 18 hours on the road from south to Beirut, it's usually a one hour road. It took people 18 hours. Pregnant women had to
06:37deliver their children while on the road because the road was hit in many places and traffic stopped. And I heard also about one old lady
06:47that died in the car because of the stressful situation. At the same time, my cousin, a young man who was trying hard to escape the
07:05economic crisis in Lebanon. He was a graduate, university graduate and didn't get any job. Finally, he succeeded in opening his own project in
07:17the south. He was very happy about it. And in the first day of the attack, he was killed in his shop. His brother was injured and his uncle also
07:25was killed. And the lady that worked in his chocolate shop also.
07:31So for you, for you, Doha, I mean, this is awful. I mean, it's really, you know, you're talking about people in ordinary jobs, your cousin, a
07:40chocolatier, his warehouse being hit, your father was taken to the hospital, a seizure. Now, presumably he's trying to convalesce in the chaos of
07:49Lebanon. And you, you were starting a new life in Paris. You're now looking after your father. What are you going to do? What are your next few
07:55days? And, you know, are you able to even look ahead towards the next few months? What are you going to do? Are you going to stay in the city or try
08:01and leave?
08:04Frankly, like, as a Lebanese, my choices are very limited. It's hard for me to see my country going through all of this again. And I know that the
08:18future of Lebanon is not really promising, because we see that there is no international interference or any real attempt to stop what's happening on
08:32Lebanon. We were left out for long periods before. The aggressions against Lebanon actually started in 1968. We were left out then. And in
08:441978, also, Lebanon was invaded. In 1982, Lebanon was invaded again. And we were, we stayed under occupation for 18 years. During those 18
08:57years, I lived, or we lived in the South, I was born later, but we lived in the South in confinement. We were isolated from the whole world. And we
09:08were being targeted daily. And unfortunately, the world didn't intervene to help us or to rescue us from that destiny. And so far, till this day, we
09:20are still framed as, in the international media, as terrorists. Nobody is humanising us. And nobody is considering us as equal human beings that
09:32deserve to live a happy life, a normal life.
09:36Well, Doha, we are, and I am. And, you know, it is horrendous, your situation, and we are thinking about you. And keep in touch with the programme as
09:45well, because this is a very frightening evening. Tell me.
09:49I want to thank you for giving me this platform and for giving all of the citizens of South Lebanon and Bekaa also the attention. I wanted to confirm to the
10:02whole world that we are normal human beings, human beings who love their land, who doesn't want to leave their houses, who doesn't want to lose
10:12their dignity. And our dignity is targeted every day. And our existence is targeted. We want to believe in the international community and in the
10:26human rights laws. And we don't want to lose hope regarding these terms. I pray that the international community come back to its rules, stop the
10:46impunity and start to take people responsible or let people be accountable for their acts.
10:57Well, a big part of that, I guess, Doha, is seeing what happens at the UN today. Doha, Sabah, thank you so much for talking to us, France 24. We'll keep in
11:04touch with you in the days ahead.