Fresh concern has emerged on Kenyans currently in Lebanon after the country's government confirmed another air strike on the evening of Monday, October 21.
The Lebanon Health Ministry released a statement saying at least 13 more people lost their lives as a result of an Israeli air strike near a hospital in Beirut. At least 57 other people were injured from the latest attack, with several suffering life-threatening injuries.
Reports claim the strike targeted a parking lot at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital. The attack caught many off guard because despite the Lebanon government earlier warning people to avoid several areas in southern Beirut, the hospital was not among those locations.
Harrowing videos of the latest incident have since emerged, showing civilians fleeing the scene in vehicles and some on foot, as the strikes kept coming.
The latest attack also left massive damage in its wake, with local media in Lebanon releasing images showing the extent of the damage of key infrastructure including a popular airport.
Why it matters: The latest air strikes in the war-stricken Middle Eastern nation rang alarm bells in Kenya, particularly because there are hundreds of Kenyans still in Lebanon.
On October 12, Diaspora Affairs Principal Secretary Roseline Njogu issued an official directive calling on Kenyans in Lebanon to register for evacuation. Kenyans.co.ke however received exclusive information suggesting that the evacuation efforts proved futile.
Three days after the government's directive, only 35 Kenyans showed a willingness to be facilitated by the government by showing up for the registration exercise. This number was a far cry from the 26,000 Kenyans who reside in Lebanon.
Furthermore, only 7,000 Kenyans were confirmed to have registered for the government's evacuation deadline by the October 11 deadline, despite the government setting aside Ksh 100 million to help get Kenyans in Lebanon back home.
Because of the volatile situation in Lebanon, the Kenyan government advised Kenyans to move to less volatile areas in the Middle Eastern country.
With the escalating conflict between Hezbollah (the Lebanese paramilitary group) Israeli military, there is no telling which area of Lebanon is safer.
On Monday, the Israeli military announced operations would continue in southern Lebanon to cripple Hezbollah by destroying their infrastructure. Hezbollah , meanwhile, have been unrelenting in their attacks on Northern Israel.
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