Search
Search

LEBANON WAR

Bangladeshi worker killed in Lebanon airstrike amid repatriation challenges

The Bangladeshi foreign ministry reported on Sunday that an airstrike in Lebanon claimed the life of a Bangladeshi worker, as the Israeli bombardment continues to hinder efforts to repatriate citizens.

Lebanon hosts an estimated 70,000 to 100,000 Bangladeshi nationals, many employed as laborers or domestic workers. Dhaka’s government, in cooperation with the U.N.’s International Organisation for Migration, initiated the repatriation process last month, bringing home many Bangladeshi citizens from Beirut.

According to a statement by Bangladesh’s ambassador to Lebanon, Javed Tanveer Khan, 31-year-old Mohammad Nizam was killed on Saturday afternoon while at a coffee shop en route to work in Beirut. His brother, Mohammad Jalaluddin, noted that Nizam had resided in Beirut for over a decade and had not registered for evacuation among the estimated 1,800 citizens seeking return flights.

Jalaluddin expressed the family's wish to bring Nizam’s body back to their ancestral home, awaiting government assistance. However, Shah Mohammad Tanvir Monsur, a senior official in the foreign ministry, highlighted the difficulty in arranging flights from Lebanon amid the ongoing conflict.

"With the ongoing war, there are hardly any flights from Lebanon to Bangladesh," Monsur said. "It's becoming increasingly difficult to repatriate our citizens who have registered to return home."

The situation has escalated since Israel intensified its airstrikes against Hezbollah in September, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and launching a ground offensive to push the group back from its northern border. Hezbollah has launched thousands of projectiles into Israel over the past year, leading to significant Israeli displacement.

Since the conflict began on Sept. 23, at least 1,930 people in Lebanon have died, according to health ministry figures compiled by AFP, with the actual toll likely higher due to incomplete data. The Israeli military has reported 38 soldier casualties since its ground operations commenced on Sept. 30.

The Bangladeshi foreign ministry reported on Sunday that an airstrike in Lebanon claimed the life of a Bangladeshi worker, as the Israeli bombardment continues to hinder efforts to repatriate citizens.Lebanon hosts an estimated 70,000 to 100,000 Bangladeshi nationals, many employed as laborers or domestic workers. Dhaka’s government, in cooperation with the U.N.’s International Organisation...