Wissam Abdel Samad, who escaped Lebanon in 2007 a year after war broke out in the country, told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland he returned to Lebanon due to the housing crisis in Dublin and his parents getting older.
He worked as a teacher in Cork and Dublin for 12 years before going back to Lebanon in 2019.
He said he might leave Lebanon “when they come to evacuate us” but he does not want to as he is providing food and aid to people.
“According to the prime minister of Lebanon we have over one million displaced people all over the country. As a county, there is around 100,000 people displaced people in this region,” he said.
“People spent two days on the road to reach the Chouf Mountains, even though this is a one-hour drive in the car.
“Israel was bombing, people did not have water for two days, they did not have food for two days. When we arrived here, the only spaces that could take them in were the public schools.
“We needed to provide people with the minimum that can make them survive for a few days. A few people gathered and started collecting donations like clothes, mattresses, blankets, pillows, because the schools had nothing.”
Mr Abdel Samad said the Lebanese government “has no plan” and they have “disappeared” in the wake of the assassination of Nasrallah. He said people were “hysteric” following the assassination.
“It is a shock. People went hysteric on the streets yesterday when they announced it. Where the displaced people are in the Chouf and the schools, you can hear the screams, people were hysteric.
“It’s because this man managed, regardless if you agree with his politics or you don’t or regardless if you are a friend or a foe, this man managed to gather people around his character, around his charisma, around a certain kind of safety that his presence provided to Lebanon.
“With him gone, now the whole country is exposed. Now they are talking about an Israeli land invasion. He wasn’t only a figure just for his own people or the Shiite Muslims, also he was a national figure. He was a respected man in Lebanese politics.”
Also speaking to Morning Ireland, an Irish officer in Lebanon said Irish soldiers there are safe and morale remains high.
Lieutenant Colonel Seán Ó Fátharta of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said their work continues despite the ongoing bombing.
“We are continuing with our work here despite the intensive Israeli air campaign targeting Hezbollah leadership,” he said.
“Although we have contingency plans and there is an evolving situation, we are not planning to move.
“The plan is to stay in place. There have been five invasions of Lebanon since 1978 and UNIFIL has stayed the course every time.”
He said Irish troops have been able to carry out limited patrolling when the opportunity allows for it and while they are still on fresh rations “there are challenges”.
There has been a significant number of the population in the southern part of Lebanon have had to leave, and Lt Col Ó Fátharta estimated 90,000 people have been displaced.
“They’re moving north because they’re very fearful that things will deteriorate,” he said.
