I come from a small town called Bourg El-Barajneh in the southern suburbs of Beirut. My parents’ house is there, as well as those of my brothers, uncles, aunts and cousins. This is the town of my grandfather and my great grandfather — an existence that goes back to thousands of years.

Yesterday morning Israel dropped leaflets over the town ordering the residents to evacuate. They will bomb, and when Israelis order evacuation you should expect the worst. My parents have never left their home, even during the worst fighting of the civil war including several Israeli invasions and assaults.

We grew up, me and my two brothers, believing that our house is the safest on the planet. That was how my parents used to calm our fears down when we were young. Our house is not safe anymore; Israel has made it not safe. My parents who are both in their sixties refused to leave. We had to convince them that their stay in the mountains is a fulfillment to a promise they made to their retired friends long time ago. So, they left two days ago, but my brothers are still there and they refuse to leave. The eldest, a schoolteacher, is assisting in rescue and aid works in the area. The second, a medical doctor, is present at the local hospital. They stayed to help their fellow town residents who have no friends or relatives to go to and feel so dignified that they don’t want to end up in a public school or a public garden as refugees.

Innocent people who might not have the money or the means to leave are still there. They are numbered in thousands. Israel has taken the decision to bomb them all. This is a crime against humanity; they will bomb, kill and then tell you “we told them to evacuate”. The Israeli Army has transformed the Lebanese population into lottery balls and those sitting in the commander room in Tel Aviv enjoy mixing and picking up the ones they decide to destroy and kill.

I strongly believe that for the F16 Israeli pilots it is just a computer game and the Lebanese people are like those computer characters trying to run and hide from the pilot’s constant fire. Remember among those characters are children and old people who cannot run fast enough.

I feel a void. London “terror plot” has taken the attention away. World media now has a different priority. News from Lebanon has been pushed down the “running order”. Israel can do whatever they want and no one outside the Arab world would even have a clue.

I am not someone who believes in conspiracies, but this time I do. Those who were plotting to bomb the planes leaving Heathrow have made Israel a favor. The Israeli government was working hard to divert the British media, in specific, from transmitting the images of Lebanon’s victims. London’s “terror plot” gave them what they wanted.

Call it naivety, but massacres are to be expected when they hit Bourg El-Barajneh, Hay Esselum and Al-Chiyah — the three districts that are still standing in the southern suburbs of Beirut. My greatest fear is that none of you will be watching or listening. Our stories will become history; my hometown will become history.

— Zahera Harb, a Lebanese journalist, now works as a researcher associate lecturer at Cardiff School of Journalism, UK. She has specialized on Middle East.