18 family members, one day. A family’s loss in Lebanon

Headlines: David Crisafulli claims victory for LNP in Queensland, Anthony Albanese defends Qantas upgrades, US politics wrap and American Airlines are trialling new tech to bust line cutters at airport gates. 

Deep Dive: Since Israel’s assault on Lebanon has escalated, schoolteacher Nahed Mawassi and her daughter Zainab have been anxiously clinging to hope for their family’s safety, while enduring anguish from afar in Australia.

Then came the unthinkable news via WhatsApp. 

Without any warning, the Israeli Defense Forces bombed a residential building in Aitou, a Christian-majority town over 120 kilometers from the Israeli border. The building was a temporary home to four generations of their closest relatives. 

In an instant, 18 family members – displaced from southern Lebanon a year prior – were killed. Among the victims were a 6-month-old baby and a 95-year-old great-grandmother. 

In this exclusive episode of The Briefing, Nahed and Zainab speak with Antoinette Lattouf, sharing their devastation. They call on the Australian government to urgently grant humanitarian visas for four surviving relatives, miraculously pulled from the rubble, and have a stark message to the Albanese government on the impact of the devastation on a quarter of a million Lebanese Australians. 

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