'Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed five members of my family', says mother returning to UK

Abbas Chamseddin with his wife Sana and their two sons Zien and Jawad (in buggy) at Heathrow Airport after they flew in from Beirut. Sana spoke of her guilt at escaping besieged Lebanon and leaving behind loved ones in "unsafe places". Her uncle, his wife and his three daughters, all in their twenties, were killed when their home in the Lebanese city of Tyre was bombed by the Israel Defence Forces. Picture date: Saturday September 28, 2024.
Sana Chamseddin with husband Abbas and their two sons Zien and Jawad at Heathrow Airport after arriving from Beirut. Credit: PA

A British woman returning to the UK from Lebanon said Israeli air strikes have killed five members of her family, including a young engineer 10 days before her wedding.Sana Chamseddin clutched her son in her arms in Heathrow Airport on Saturday and spoke of her guilt at escaping besieged Lebanon and leaving behind loved ones in “unsafe places”.Her uncle, his wife and his three daughters, all in their twenties, were killed when their home in the Lebanese city of Tyre was bombed by the Israel Defence Forces, she said. Two of the daughters were doctors and one was an engineer who was supposed to get married in 10 days, said Mrs Chamseddin.Mrs Chamseddin and her husband are British citizens, and returned to London with their sons, two-month-old Zien and one-year-old Jawad.

Breaking down in tears, she said: “On Monday morning we wake up as a big bomb (hit) just beside our house, and we saw on the news that they said another round (of attacks) will start in one hour, so we didn’t take it seriously because we don’t fight – we are normal civilians.“I was talking with my uncle over WhatsApp, he told me that it’s okay, it’s not going to bomb him, but we lost the connection when they bombed around us.“When we arrived after 10 hours on the road we found out that he didn’t make it – me and my husband feel very guilty to come here (to England) and (leave) our family in unsafe places.”She added her uncle “was the perfect person, he liked to live and to talk all the time”.

Her husband, biochemical engineer Abbas Chamseddin, described a hellish scene of bombs falling as their family fled to Beirut airport.

“This morning was the end of the world – people running in the street, they left their homes, running in the street, sleeping in the street, just because they want to be in a safe place, because they left their home in the night," he said. “We are on our way to the airport - the taxi suddenly would go this way, suddenly go this way, and why? Because there were bombs everywhere and we see them with our eyes.”Another family who landed at Heathrow on Saturday, who did not want to be identified, said they have not slept or eaten in a week as they watched destruction “like something out of a horror movie” night after night.They took the same flight as the Chamseddins and said they have nowhere to go once they leave the airport.

Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning.

The mother, a 45-year-old who grew up in Chelsea, London, said: “We ran away with nothing, we just left our belongings – we didn’t sleep all night.”More than 720 people have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict escalated on Monday, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.The United Nations says the number displaced by the conflict from southern Lebanon has more than doubled, with more than 211,000 people affected.Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas after it stormed into Israel on October 7, sparking the Israel-Hamas war.Top Israeli officials have threatened to repeat the destruction of Gaza in Lebanon if the Hezbollah fire continues, raising fears that Israel’s actions in Gaza since October 7 would be repeated in Lebanon.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...