Lebanon: We always have a feeling of worry, confess some French people in Beirut, who live in fear

Published on April 15, 2026 at 16:48

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A French family in Beirut, Lebanon. Some schools are still open. Parents are therefore accompanying their adopted daughters to school this morning. Almost no strikes on the Lebanese capital for a week: “We are relieved that it has calmed down in Beirut. It’s certainly more pleasant than what we have experienced in recent weeks, but after that, we still have a sense of worry because we don’t know when it will resume and what will happen”, says Ombeline, a French expatriate in Lebanon.

French families traumatized by last Wednesday’s dark day, when many neighborhoods were heavily bombed, which had never been targeted by Israel before. Our family lives in the Christian neighborhood of Achrafieh, it was not affected: “We were scared, but we know we are safe in the neighborhood where we are. So, it also helps not to panic when it happens”, adds Ombeline. Her daughter, Anne, a middle school student, adds: “The school ensures that no one in my school is targeted. The environment where I am ensures that I am cut off from the outside world, even though it’s not even 10 minutes away by car.”

In a multi-confessional Lebanon, the French fear the return of war between communities. Married and father of two children, Damien Kasper, an administrative executive in a school, would see today only one reason to leave the land of the cedar tree: “The red line would really be a civil war, an inter-Lebanese conflict. Then, it would be a really motivating departure case”, he fears.

In Beirut, businesses and shops are open. A French couple works in humanitarian aid: “We live in a state of schizophrenia in Lebanon. We are in this in-between where we try to live normally but we know that part of the country is under fire,” testifies Wissam Nasrallah, from the humanitarian organization “Le Fruit.”

A new Israeli strike hit a vehicle in South Lebanon on Wednesday morning, while the pro-Iranian Shiite Hezbollah also fires rockets towards the Hebrew state.