Between fear and anger, Lebanese in West Africa experience proxy war

Israeli strikes in Lebanon have sent shockwaves through the Lebanese diaspora in West Africa the West, which has several hundred thousand members.

In Dakar, Abidjan and Lagos, three of them tell AFP how they are experiencing the proxy war. Between sadness, fear and anger, they underline the The spirit of solidarity that reigns within the community.

Here are their testimonies:

Zoheir Zeidan, Dakar

This 61-year-old Shiite telecoms CEO had been expecting Lebanon to be the target of Israeli strikes since October 8, 2023, the day after the Hamas attack. “We knew that Israel's next stop would be Lebanon,” where the pro-Iranian Lebanese movement Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, operates, he confides.

“On the first day of Israel's attack (on Lebanon on September 23, 2024), we had a close childhood friend, with whom I grew up here, who had a bomb on his house. I received photos from (another) friend. Then we looked. It was him, his mother, his brother.” They were dead.

“My friend told me + Expect there to be more +. And since that day, we've been on the alert.”

“I have aunts and cousins ​​who are in the south of Lebanon, in Tyre, who left, who took to the road right away when there were problems. But as we see that Israel is starting to extend its influence over the entire Beirut area, at any time it can happen” to be affected.

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on a village in southern Lebanon on October 7, 2024 © AFP – KAWNAT HAJU

“Material support is provided through supply, distribution and money transfer chains via several associations based in Dakar, Abidjan, Nigeria and Lebanon.”

“My cousin in Beirut sent me a message saying +we have an association ready, mobilize everyone a little, see what you can do: diapers, towels, products for women and children, all these things are good to take+”.

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“I feel sadness and anger. Sadness because we find ourselves in a situation where we can lose a country overnight and find ourselves the new Palestinians of the earth. And anger because of the powerlessness we have today to see what is happening and the indifference of the West in the face of this situation that revolts us.”

Zara Mirza-Branger, Abidjan

“My parents lived here in Ivory Coast, they returned to Lebanon 6 years ago because of my mother's health. There were lots of bombings around them, they were in Tyre (south)” and “took refuge in a house in Beirut” about two weeks ago, says this 31-year-old saleswoman born in Lebanon to a Shiite mother and a father sunni.

“We're always watching the news, we don't even have our minds to work anymore. Every time we hear that they've bombed we call my parents. We try to send them money, to help as much as we can.”

“If all this stops, if they go back to the south and don't find a house, then we really won't know what to do. We'll have to bring them back here, or to my family in Gabon, France or anywhere. They're trying to leave Lebanon but it's a risk for my mother.”

“We have associations here that are trying to collect aid, whether it's clothes, money, food, especially they've asked for milk for babies, medicines that they don't have, diapers, so a bit of everything. The situation is really catastrophic, what we want is for all this to stop.”

In Abidjan, between Lebanese, “all the discussions are about the war in Lebanon. Even where I work, in the clothing store, when we call the customers, everything the world is sad.”

“If it rains in Lebanon, Ivory Coast is wet.”

George Chaanine, Lagos

“We are very worried because the war is spreading almost to all of Lebanon,” explains this 31-year-old businessman from the Maronite Christian community, who has lived most of his life in Nigeria.

“We create WhatsApp groups where we all make donations.”

“This also has consequences on business. Because of the war, things are becoming more difficult, shipping lines are taking longer to reach Lebanon. And that drives up prices.”

“When you're trying to get your family out of the country, it also becomes complicated because the demand (for airlines) has increased exponentially.”

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