Lebanon's Armenians Face Painful Choice: Stay And Risk Death Or Flee Their Country

The windows in Zakar Keshishian’s house rattle violently as Israeli air strikes pound Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.

“We don’t know how close the bombs will land from us,” said the 56-year-old. “We have to pray that we stay alive.”

Keshishian lives in Mezher, a small town just outside of Beirut that has been spared the worst of Israel’s devastating aerial bombardment of Lebanon.

Keshishian is a member of Lebanon’s 150,000-strong Armenian Christian community. Many are the descendants of the survivors of the World War I-era mass killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire that dozens of countries consider a genocide.

Now, Israel’s war has left many Lebanese Armenians with a painful choice: stay and risk death or leave behind a country they call home.

"We have at least 100 years of history here,” said Keshisian, a musician born in Beirut. “Letting go of our community, culture, and properties here will be incredibly hard.”

Zakar Keshishian.

Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon and its ongoing air strikes targeting Hezbollah, an armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon, has taken a huge toll on civilians.

Lebanese officials say more than 2,300 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since September 23. Over 1.2 million people have been displaced, more than a fifth of the population, in the biggest displacement in the country’s history.

Little of Lebanon, a multiethnic and multireligious country of some 5.5 million people, has been spared. Israeli ground forces have invaded southern Lebanon. Israeli warplanes have carried out thousands of air strikes in Beirut and other major cities.

Keshishian, his wife, and 12-year-old son rarely venture outside their home in Mezher, a predominately Armenian town northeast of Beirut. Keshishian said he spends most of the day consoling his terrified son.

“I try to reassure him that this is temporary and that I went through similar experiences and survived,” said Keshishian. “But, in reality, my fears are eating me up.”

Keshishian says Israel’s war in Lebanon is not just against Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organization by the United States, although the EU has only blacklisted its armed wing.

“We’re all victims -- ordinary people, children, and the elderly,” he said. “We’re all victims of these inhumane actions, and the homes of ordinary citizens are being destroyed.”

A refugee camp in Bourj Hammoud, a predominately Armenian district in east Beirut

'Horror Of War'

Yessayi Havatian thought he was safe in his home in Anjar, a village some 60 kilometers east of Beirut.

The predominately Armenian village even took in hundreds of internally displaced people fleeing Israel’s bombardment of the country’s south.

But the 64-year-old Havatian said the war has now come to the village’s doorstep.

“The reality hit home when the sounds of explosions reached our ears -- much closer than we anticipated -- reminding us of the horror of war,” said the academic.

Anjar, a historic village popular with tourists, lies just a few kilometers from the main border crossing with Syria.

Israeli air strikes on October 4 struck the Masnaa crossing, cutting off the road to traffic. Israel claimed Hezbollah was transporting weapons through the border.

Around 500,000 people have crossed the border in the past three weeks, many on foot carrying their children and belongings, to flee the violence in Lebanon.

Havatian, who was born in Anjar, survived Lebanon’s civil war from 1975 to 1990 and the Israeli-Hezbollah war in 2006. But he says the current conflict is different.

“I have witnessed many wars and armed clashes in Lebanon, but I have never seen such extensive destruction or attacks against the civilian population,” he said.

“The southern regions of Lebanon are completely devastated. It seems like the scenes of Gaza are repeating themselves,” added Havatian, referring to Israel’s ongoing war in the Palestinian enclave.

People carry their belongings while walking next to the rubble, after an Israeli strike, at the Masnaa border crossing.

'Constant State Of Alarm'

In Beirut, Christine Tanielian-Sarkisian coordinates the work of the Jinishian Memorial Program, an NGO that supports disadvantaged members of Lebanon’s Armenian community.

“Over the past few weeks, I have heard many heartbreaking stories from vulnerable families,” said the humanitarian worker.

“Mothers who we have helped told us how their children are suffering from trauma, insomnia, and stress-induced vomiting,” she added.

The 47-year-old lives with her husband and three children in east Beirut, a relatively safe area at the foot of the mountains that flank the city.

But she said Israel’s aerial bombardment of Beirut, a densely populated city of some 2.5 million people, has touched everyone.

“Maybe the war is not directly against us [the Armenian community], and perhaps we aren’t the main targets,” she said.

“But for the past few weeks, we have lived in a constant state of alarm. Our city feels paralyzed, and chaos surrounds us,” she added.

Tanielian-Sarkisian fears that Israel’s escalating war in Lebanon will force her and her family to flee the country. If the family is compelled to evacuate, their destination is Armenia.

“Lebanon is my country, and the Armenian community has fought hard to build our lives here,” she said. “We pray it will not come to that.”