The Mancunian family left divided by a war-torn Middle East
Video report by Granada Reports' journalist, Emma Sweeney
A woman from Manchester, who fled Lebanon with her two children, has spoken of her hope of soon being reunited with her Lebanese husband.
Mahasen al-Dada and her sons - five-year-old Seif and six-year-old Sultan - moved to southern Lebanon in 2023 to be with the boy's father. But two weeks ago, they were forced to return to the North West on a flight chartered by the UK Government, amid a recent escalation in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
Recalling her final few days in Lebanon, Ms al-Dada said: "When I wanted to go to bed I had to pick both my children up from their beds and put them in my bed to sleep with me and I did that every day until I left and came here.
"I just thought if we were to get bombed and something happened, we’d be in the same room and they’ll find us together."
The 28-year-old's husband,Jad Eltahra, was unable to leave with the rest of his family as he doesn't have a UK visa. He has since applied for one and is awaiting a decision from the Home Office.
Mrs al-Dada said she calls her husband several times a day to check he's OK and added: "He has to go to work every day and that's in Beirut and that's right in the heart of everything that's happening.
"Even when he goes to work, he passes through the roads that have been bombed, so he's seeing everything."
The psychology and criminology graduate added that her husband is hesitant at leaving his parents and job behind in Lebanon, but said "he's doing it for us". She said the children "ask me every day about him and when he’s gonna come".
She continued: "The day that we left Lebanon my eldest didn’t want to leave until he promised them that he’d come."
Mrs al-Dada has said she's "hopeful" that her family will return to Lebanon - a country she describes a "beautiful" - once "things get better."
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