Americans in Lebanon feel abandoned by US govt amid Israeli attacks, say 'As if we don’t exist’

An American citizen stuck in Lebanon stressed that she does not feel that she matters to the United States government amid Israeli attacks, Al Jazeera reported.

Karam, a US citizen, who chose to be identified by her nickname out of fear of retaliation, said that she feels as if she does not matter to the US.

Tensions between Israel and Lebanon have heightened after Israel carried out device attacks targeting Hezbollah, using pagers and walkie-talkies, and following that killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a targeted airstrike.

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Karam, on Monday, called the US embassy in Beirut for help. However, she said that she was told to find a way out of the country by herself.

She compared it to the Hamas October 7 attack in Israel, and how the US State Department swiftly chartered special flights and a ship to evacuate American citizens in Israel.

“Americans of Lebanese descent have been treated as lesser US citizens than Israeli US citizens. It is as if we don’t exist,” Karam told Al Jazeera.

Karam is from south Lebanon and is currently residing in the mountainous area east of Beirut, which has largely been spared from Israeli attacks. However, she said she is afraid of moving within the country or visiting her son in Beirut in the fear that Israel can bomb anywhere at any moment.

“Israel says they are following Hezbollah, but they are dropping bombs everywhere,” Karam said. “The innocent people of the south and Dahiyeh have paid the price. And we don’t know how long the people will be displaced," she added.

The administration of US President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that it contracted its first flight to evacuate US citizens from Beirut to Istanbul, nine days after Israel started its offensive in Lebanon.

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State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the flight carried 100 US citizens – a fraction of the nearly 6,000 Americans who have contacted the US embassy for information and help.

Miller added that the US administration is hoping to organise more flights, however, saying that he would not announce them because they may not materialise “for whatever reason”.

“We have been working to make seats available or to find seats available on existing commercial flights,” he said.

Since all foreign airlines have cancelled their flights to Lebanon, Middle East Airlines (MEA) is not the only company flying out of the international airport in Beirut.

MEA offers nearly 30 flights daily to destinations in Europe and the Middle East, which is far short of the growing demands of people looking to leave Lebanon. Moreover, prices have also hiked due to the crisis.

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(With inputs from agencies)