Jad Haidar is a US Marine Corps veteran who enlisted after 9/11. He was awarded a Purple Heart after he was twice hit by an IED, suffering severe concussions and a traumatic brain injury, in Iraq. For years, he’s required daily assistance due to his debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder.
He’s now stranded in Lebanon, unsure of if he and his family will get out.
Haidar is among 7,000 Americans who have sought information from the US about leaving Lebanon amid Israel’s strikes across the country.
The US Embassy in Beirut on Sept. 27 said it was not evacuating US citizens and suggested those looking to leave the country book and pay for a commercial flight. On Wednesday, the State Department said it organized a flight from Beirut to Istanbul that carried around 100 Americans and their family members. Haidar was not on that flight, but he says he was told by State Department officials they were trying to get him on a plane to Istanbul on Thursday. He would be on his own once there. They have yet to provide more details, and regardless, Haidar says he feels “abandoned” and disappointed in how he’s been treated by his own government. …..more
