I no longer feel safe, says owner of hotel hit by Israeli strikes
Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Hazmieh
IMAGE SOURCE, ALICE CUDDY/BBC
Image caption, "Who do I trust? Should I trust Hezbollah or Israel? I don't trust anyone," says Magay
I’m in Hazmieh - on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital Beirut - where a hotel was struck overnight.
The Comfort Hotel sustained serious damage to its first and second floors, and witnesses say the receptionist was seriously injured and taken to hospital.
A clean-up effort was under way this morning as locals looked on in shock. "We woke up to an explosion and dust," one man who had been staying at the hotel says. "We don't know anything. We don't know what happened... This area is normally secure."
Magay Chebli, who owns the hotel with her husband, says she received a call at about 4am, telling her the hotel had been hit in an Israeli strike.
She says displaced people had been among those staying at the hotel, and that they had tried to take in only families.
"I wish you were here before and you saw how they [the families] were coming out with their diapers and milk. We don't have terrorists here. We hate them," she says.
The BBC has asked the Israeli military about the strike and what the target was. Magay says she no longer feels safe anywhere in Lebanon but will not leave.
"Who do I trust? Should I trust Hezbollah or Israel? I don't trust anyone," she says.
As the cleanup happened at the hotel in Hazmieh, explosions from Israeli strikes this morning could be heard in the southern suburbs of Dahieh.
IMAGE SOURCE, ALICE CUDDY/BBC
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www.bbc.co.uk
