Lebanese family flees to Iraq to give birth

najaf

A Lebanese woman, Lubana Ismail, has had to go to Iraq to give birth due to the overcrowding of hospitals in Lebanon, as reported by the Arab News via Reuters.

Ismail had just fled her village in Lebanon’s south with he husband and two children who she went into labour. Her uterus had swollen veins and to give birth safely she needed immediate medical supervision. Due to the number of dead and wounded in hospitals in Beirut and Sidon, none could admit her.

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“No hospital accepted me. We were turned away everywhere until my father suggested we go to Iraq,” she recounted. Following this, the family flew to Najaf, Iraq, and Lubana was able to safely give birth to baby Zahraa.

Fouad Youssef, the father, recounted the events “at first, we went to Tyre, but a strike hit directly next to us. We decided to go to Beirut, thinking it would be safer, but even on the way, a strike hit near us,” he said. “During our two days of displacement, I tried to get my wife into a hospital because her labuor was difficult. But due to the high number of injuries and martyrs, there were no vacancies.”

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Over a million Lebanese have been displaced since Israel ramped up its air campaign and invaded the country in a campaign it says is being waged against the Lebanese group Hezbollah. UN humanitarian co-ordinator Imran Riza said the post-September 23rd displacement had exceeded worst case scenarios, and civilian infrastructure had faced too much damage. Of these displaced Lebanese, around 5,700 have fled to Iraq, according to Iraq’s interior ministry.

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While Lubana and Fouad are happy to have found a safe place for their family and to have their child, they are unsure of what will come next. “We are afraid the war will go on for a long time. What will happen to our children? We were preparing them for school, but now there is no education. Are we going to stay here? Are we leaving? Are we going back to our country?” wondered Youssef, while he watched news of the destruction in Lebanon on his mobile.

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Reuters

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