Quincy House resident Jade F. Jurdi ’07 wrote the following e-mail to a group of friends Tuesday. He made the e-mail available to The Crimson. Entitled “How I got out of Lebanon, (the details),” it was edited for clarity and length.

The past five days of my life have been the most harrowing five days I [have ever] experienced. When I heard the news on Wednesday that two Israeli soldiers had been taken hostage I knew it was not good news, but I could not fathom in my wildest dreams what that would bring.

On Thursday morning we awoke to the news that Israeli aircraft had attacked Beirut International Airport at 6 a.m. that morning. My uncle told our entire family we had to get out that day or risk being trapped by an Israeli attack. We were going to my uncle’s newly built house high in the Shouf Mountains...

We were 19 people staying in my uncle’s house in the mountains that night. The house was big enough...to accommodate us all. That night the house shook and rattled with the falling of Israeli projectiles.

The next morning we awoke to find all major highways out of the country had been struck. [The previous] night, two families had been killed in their homes [in southern Lebanon].

Israel’s targeting of civilian infrastructure and air and sea blockade had trapped us. We also found out that Israel had shelled a residential area of Beirut; something Hezbollah had promised would result in its shelling of Haifa.

Friday we spent the day watching the news. I got a call on my cell phone from [Assistant Dean of the College John L.] Ellison telling us the University wanted us to evacuate and that we would be taken out by a private company.

[On] Saturday, we again awoke to a worse situation. By then, well over a 100 civilians had been killed.

We decided to go in to town...in hopes we would find an Internet cafe to see if the embassy had sent anything, and to let our friends know that we were okay. While at the Internet cafe, I got a call from the [Harvard] Study Abroad office. [The woman on the phone] told us that to get out of the country we had to get to a hotel in the northern suburbs of Beirut in an hour.

We had [essentially] been asked to drive in to a city [that was] being hit on roads that were being [h]it. We asked taxis in the town if they would take us, but [were] told that they would not go to [Beirut] for any price. Not knowing how we would get back to Beirut, we rushed back to the house to pack.

While packing, I called my uncle who was coming up from Beirut that day. He told me he would [take us] back down.

The goodbye [with my family] was one of the hardest goodbyes of my life. I left 19 members of my family with none of us knowing what was to come. Many of them are American citizens, but [were] trapped nevertheless.

We got into my uncle’s 1-year-old BMW. I was sitting in the front next to my uncle. We [went] as fast as my uncle deemed possible, which at times included over 80 miles per hour on the mountain roads. About 15 minutes into our drive, my uncle asked my friend, “Is there anything by your feet?” [He] reached back and pulled out a handgun.

We were the only [ones] making our way in to the city—all other traffic was going the other way. [We] passed five collapsed bridges. When we got on the part of the highway that...was completely empty [we] traveled at a steady 132 miles per hour.

[After making it to Beirut, we] started driving to the hotel north of the city...While we were passing a port, it was struck by Israeli fire.

Beirut was beautiful, but marred by plumes of smoke. That night our hotel shook [from the] bombardment.

The trip to the border was slow and tense. Even our bus drivers were nervous. There were seven buses and one car in our convoy. I did not know it at the time, but apparently one of the bus drivers got so nervous [that] he just pulled over and ran away. While on the road, we passed several things that had already been hit by Israel: a small airport, a port, Lebanese Army barracks.

Once we arrived at the border, it was a zoo. It took us four hours to get through the border...We [thought] we were going to [go to] a hotel to sleep, [but] instead we were told that the company had chartered a jet to take us to [Cyprus].

I spent 22 hours in [Cyprus]. While at the hotel I was interviewed by CNN, CBS, CBS radio, and USA Today. It was a good way to vent.

Although relieved, I had a sense of hopelessness and [I] found myself tearing up often. I was put on a 4 a.m. flight to London, [and I] arrived in Los Angeles today. My experience was heart wrenching. I feel like I have abandoned my family, and friends in Lebanon. A country that had so much hope looking far in to the future, [many] are now just wondering how they will get by from day to day.

I blame two groups: Hezbollah—for starting the conflict [with] their backers, Syria and Iran—and Israel for striking infrastructure, such as the airport, highways, and power plants.

While Hezbollah started the conflict, Israel [has] made every Lebanese suffer by making them fear for their lives, by cutting power, and by stranding them by destroying roads, and imposing an air and sea blockade.

I am home, but I am not yet normal.

All I can think about are those that are still there and still suffering.