‘There’s people dying for your petrol’: while Israel bombs Beirut, Lebanese Australians feel outrage and fear

Dr Saad Ramadan at his home in Western Sydney. He was among thousands of protesters who rallied in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney pushing for the Australian government to impose sanctions on Israel as it continues to bomb Beirut and southern Lebanon. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

When Dr Saad Ramadan’s elderly parents and five siblings fled their village in southern Lebanon under raining Israeli strikes for Beirut, he thought they were evacuating to safety.

But safe has become “a relative word” these days, he says.