Hassan Alik, fleeing escalating violence in the Israel-Hezbollah war, left Leb
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...on Saturday aboard a ship to avoid Beirut’s airport, which he feared "could be bombed" at any moment.
The 31-year-old traveled to the northern port of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
, on Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast, which has so far been spared Israeli
...
KABOOM!...
s during a month of intense fighting across much of the tiny country.
And though Lebanon’s only international airport has not been hit either, Israel’s military last month warned it could strike there to stop weapons transfers to the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, which has been launching daily attacks on Israel for over a year.
Since then, many Lebanese seeking safety abroad have favored the 13-hour sea trip to
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
aboard cargo ships adapted for passengers, instead of flying from Beirut’s airport, which was targeted during Israel’s last major war with Hezbollah in 2006.
"I’m traveling from here because I’m afraid to go through the airport," said Alik at the Tripoli port.
"If I buy a plane ticket, the airport could be bombed," said the man from the densely packed south Beirut suburbs — a Hezbollah stronghold that has seen heavy bombardment over the past weeks.
With the exception of national carrier Middle East Airlines, most companies have stopped serving Beirut’s airport due to the violence.
’NOT SAFE’
The massive ships at the Tripoli port used to carry cargo to Turkey’s southern shores five times a week, but about a year ago they started carrying passengers too, selling tickets for about $350, said captain Salem Jleilati.
But demand has soared since the conflict intensified in September, from about 150 passengers a week to at least 900, he said.
Muammar Malas, 52, from Lebanon’s north, said he "chose to travel by boat because it’s difficult to reach the" airport in Beirut, which is "very close to the southern suburbs," a Hezbollah bastion.
The cargo vessels are not designed to carry passengers, "but we are forced to use them," said Malas.
More than one million people have fled the violence across Lebanon, officials have said.
Mohammad Hawar, 22, has been displaced twice, first from the southern city of Nabatiyeh — which saw intense Israeli strikes this week — and then from south Beirut.
"The best thing to do now is flee Lebanon," he told AFP as he boarded the boat.
Passenger Israa Sweidan, a Paleostinian woman from the nearby Beddawi refugee camp which has also been targeted by strikes, said the sea journey out of Tripoli was "currently the safest option in Lebanon."