A British mother has said “every day feels like a week” as she and her young family wait to escape from the “terror” unfolding in Lebanon.
Victoria Lupton, 37, has been in Lebanon with her British-Lebanese husband and two-year-old daughter since September 17, when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members exploded killing dozens of people.
Israel said its latest offensive in Lebanon includes “targeted ground raids” against Hezbollah, leaving Ms Lupton feeling she is in a nation now experiencing “full-scale war”.
“Nobody in the country feels safe,” Ms Lupton told the PA news agency.
“Everybody is living in a state of terror, and it’s intensifying every day – every day is feeling like a week.”
Ms Lupton, a charity founder who divides her time between Achrafieh in Beirut and Cambridge and does not wish her family to be named, has a commercial flight booked to leave the Lebanese capital on Wednesday.
Ms Lupton has been hearing daily explosions in the Lebanese capital over the past two weeks.
The UK Government has chartered a flight out of Lebanon for Britons on Wednesday and Ms Lupton said she received an email late on Monday night explaining this, but they had already booked their commercial flight and intend to catch that.
“I think there now is a full-scale war, at least between Lebanon and and Israel,” Ms Lupton said.
“I mean, Israel just launched a ground invasion, so I don’t know how you can get much more full-scale than that.
“The UK has to has to use every diplomatic pressure to ensure that Israel is fulfilling its obligations according to international law.”
Ms Lupton, who does not wish her husband and daughter to be identified, is the founder and chief executive of Seenaryo, a non-profit which helps educate Middle Eastern women and children through theatre and play.
