‘We couldn’t go back home anymore,’ says a returnee arriving in Brazil from Lebanon on the second government flight

Brasil de Fato

The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) aircraft carrying the second group of returnees from Lebanon arrived at Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo at 6:58 AM on Tuesday (8). A total of 227 people disembarked, including 49 children and three pets.   

The KC-30 plane took off from Beirut, Lebanon, at 12:30 PM (Brasília time) on Monday (7) and stopped in Lisbon, Portugal, to refuel.  

According to Air Brigadier Lieutenant Marcelo Kanitz Damasceno, the Air Force commander, 500 Brazilians are expected to be repatriated each week as part of Operation Cedar Roots, coordinated by Itamaraty and the Ministry of Defense. 

An estimated 20,000 Brazilians are living in Lebanon, 3,000 of whom have already expressed their desire to leave the territory amid the Israeli government’s attacks in the region. Most live in the Bekaa Valley and the capital, Beirut, where the attacks are intense.  

We couldn’t go back home anymore 

Despite already being in Brazilian territory, the trauma caused by the Israeli attacks on Lebanon is still noticeable in some returnees. Samara Keshin, who had to flee in a hurry from her home next to her parents, stopped talking momentarily when she heard the roar of airplane engines taking off and landing in Guarulhos. “I can’t hear those noises,” she said, even 10,000 kilometers away from Lebanon.  

Keshin says that Israel bombed the town where she and her family lived, forcing them to flee to a nearby village. “We started to hear the missiles passing over us. Everyone was terrified. In less than an hour, the whole town was empty,” she says. “We couldn’t go home anymore, and everything stayed there. I only got my passport when I fled.”  

Before the bombings, which began about two weeks ago, the noise of Israeli fighter planes had already announced what was to come, shaking the structures of the houses with the roar of the engines. “All the time, the fighter jets were breaking the sound barrier and making a noise that shook the whole house. All the houses in the town started to crack. They sent in fighter jets, broke the sound barrier, and it was a deafening and frightening bang,” says Keshin.  

The noise of the airplanes was no more deafening than the bombs, which left a trail of destruction and death in their wake. “Next to my aunt’s house, a house was bombed and fell to the ground. All the glass in my aunt’s house was broken. The whole town is destroyed. Even the boys who work with the rescue ambulances were bombed and died. Seven boys died at once.”  

“We were living in terror all the time. We could hear the shelling. Even far away, the whole earth shakes underneath you. The air pressure is like a rock hitting the window. They are terrorizing and destroying everything. They’re not sparing anything or anyone,” said the repatriated Brazilian.  

Even on the way from where she was sheltering to the airport, it was possible to hear and see the bombings, which made the journey “terrifying,” in her words. The danger became so imminent that the taxi driver who took Keshin and her family to the Beirut air base took a longer route to escape the bombs.  

In Brazil, Keshin and her parents were welcomed by her brothers. However, the rest of her family remains in Lebanon, including her sister, nephews, uncles, and cousins. “My sister doesn’t want to leave her husband alone because his family is there. But there is an increasing threat that the war will spread throughout the country, and there will be nowhere else to flee to,” she says.  

The Brazilian also said that she is “proud” of the Brazilian government for its support for Lebanon and for its condemnations of the “genocide” that Israel is “carrying out in both Palestine and Lebanon.”  

A team of professionals has been set up at Guarulhos Airport to help the returnees / Leandro Melito/Brasil de Fato

Time doesn’t wait  

Among the family members waiting for the returnees, the atmosphere was one of anxiety and relief. Hamza Haymour, who arrived from Lebanon in the first group of Brazilians on Sunday (6), went to the airport to welcome his grandmother, uncles, and cousins, who had been in the country for 24 years.  

Born in Brazil to a Lebanese father and a Brazilian mother, Haymour said that the situation in Lebanon is “tough” but thanked God and President Lula for having arrived in his home country.  

“We’re grateful. I think that if it weren’t for him [Lula], we wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have arrived on Sunday. I’m sure they’ll bring everyone, and even those who aren’t Brazilian and want to come, they’ll bring them too. But I hope it’s a bit quicker because time doesn’t wait,” he told Brasil de Fato at the reception base for returnees at Guarulhos Airport. 

“I was in Lebanon for a month and a half. I was supposed to return on a Tuesday, but there was no more flights the day before. Everything was close to us. We could hear the bombs, we could see everything. We don’t cry for those who died. We cry for those who are there and who aren’t managing to get out yet,” he said.  

Haymour also criticized the Israeli government for its attacks on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. “I’m not saying that what Hamas did was right. But after a year, we see that in Gaza, almost 43,000 people have died so far, and in Lebanon, in two weeks, more than 2,000 people have died, including many children and women,” he lamented.  

“A country, a lying government, which says it is attacking places where there are weapons, and only children and women die. Then I don’t know what to do anymore; you are warring against people. You’re cowards.”  

We’ve lost ground  

Zainab Abdallah was also waiting for family members who had been in Lebanon for 15 years. From Brazil, she called every day to check on them, which she described as the “least” she could do.  

“We’re on edge, we can’t sleep, we’re on our phones all the time, always expecting the worst because things keep getting worse. We’re left with this anguish, unable to do anything. The least we can do is call and ask if everyone is okay. Our fear is hearing bad news, like we’re hearing from other people, from other families. That’s our fear,” she told Brasil de Fato.  

Although she was born in Brazil, her entire family is Lebanese, which makes her watch the escalating violence in the region with a heavy heart. “We’ve been living October 7 for many years. It’s just a new phase, but we’ve been enduring this for many years. I just want empathy from those who are badmouthing the Lebanese or Palestinian people. People are starving on the streets,” lamented the Brazilian.  

She also thanked the Lula government for its repatriation efforts and diplomacy with Arab countries. “We thank those who are showing solidarity with us. Words are not enough for President Lula. He’s always had this attitude. It was nothing new for us. It’s been speedy. I don’t think any government has ever taken this initiative so quickly. We’re very grateful. We’re with Lula,” she said.  

Reception and welcome  

The crew of the KC-30 consists of a multidisciplinary team of three doctors, two nurses, and two psychologists to assist the returnees with any needs. At Guarulhos Airport, another team of professionals from the Ministries of Justice and Public Security, Health, Human Rights, Foreign Affairs, Development and Social Assistance, and Family and Fight against Hunger was also on hand.  

“There’s urgent and emergency care, reception, to identify the first signs and symptoms of an aggravation or an acute chronic illness. And there’s initial psychological care to determine if what they’re feeling is expected or if there’s an intervention we need to make,” explained Renato Oliveira Santos from the National Public Health System (SUS, in Portuguese). 

“It’s important to note that the teams were divided between men and women who speak Portuguese, Arabic, or French. They are mixed teams to ensure fluid communication,” added Debora Noal, who works with mental health and psychosocial care at SUS.

Escalating conflict   

At least 2,000 people have been killed in the recent series of Israeli attacks on Lebanon, including 127 children, according to the country’s Health Ministry. The attacks began due to the Lebanese political and paramilitary group Hezbollah’s support for Hamas in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has killed at least 42,000 people in a year, including 17,000 children and 12,000 women, according to official Gaza media.  

The massacre began after Hamas carried out a surprise attack on Israeli territory in response to Israel’s constant attacks on Palestinians, which have been ongoing for decades.  

After Hezbollah joined the defense of Gaza, Iran also launched attacks against Israel, sending around 200 missiles into Israeli territory last week. All of them were intercepted by the so-called “Iron Dome,” an advanced technology that destroys missiles before they reach the ground.