By Esther Zuckerman
Tarek Tohmeâs â08 family, including brother Ramez â06, was in for a surprise when they landed at London Heathrow airport on July 14. They were planning on catching a connecting flight to Lebanon, but they ran into a problem.
The Beirut airport had been bombed.
âWe wanted to see all of our family and then we heard what was happening,â Tohme said. âIt was just disappointing.â
Tohme had family in Lebanon when the conflict between the Islamic militant organization Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, and Israel began. Many U.S. citizens were stranded in Lebanon and had to be evacuated.
Tohmeâs family had already planned to go to Morocco after Lebanon and just continued on with that part of their vacation.
A lot of their family lives in the mountains of Lebanon, which are only 10 minutes away from most of the bombing. They had no electricity, their supply of food was running low, and refugees were living in their front yard.
Tohmeâs father keeps in touch with their family in Lebanon every day to make sure they are safe, though Tohme is not very frightened for their safety.
âWe have guards and they have gunsâ he said.
