JEDDAH, 26 July 2006 — Tired and exhausted after spending four days in Damascus looking for a way home, 40-year-old Saudi Muhammad Al-Bikiri explained to Arab News how relieved he and his family were after escaping the brutality and savage aggression of the Israelis in Lebanon.
“Alhamdulillah, we have escaped the war in Lebanon and made it home.” These were the first words he and his family said as their flight from Damascus landed in Jeddah.
In mid-June, Al Bikiri and his family — a wife and three children — left Jeddah to spend for a summer holiday in Lebanon. “We decided this year to go to Lebanon but, unfortunately, the situation got out of control and we, along with many others, found ourselves in danger.”
Al-Bikiri, in addition to a number of Saudis and Gulf Arabs, had no choice but to flee Beirut and seek safety in Syria.
Another Saudi national, Mohsin Muhammad, arrived back to Jeddah recently from Syria after being in Beirut for the last month. Arriving in Jeddah with his wife, he described the trip as the worst he had ever experienced. He recalled seeing planes dropping bombs just a few miles from where they were.
Muhammad criticized the Syrians for demanding bribes at the border. “It was really unjustified when we had hardly made it and were exhausted and tired after escaping the bombardment of Lebanon. It took us hours to complete the official procedures and the most shocking thing was that we could get nothing done until we had paid a large sum as a bribe,” he said.
