Growing Mideast conflict stirs fears in Boston area

Nayla Raffol of Needham fears for the lives of her three youngest daughters, who are visiting their father in Lebanon. Israeli bombings have made it nearly impossible to travel to or from the country.

Karen Doryoseph of Boston cannot stop watching CNN, which has broadcast scenes of a barrage of Hezbollah rockets ripping through her hometown of Haifa, Israel.

Across Greater Boston, families with loved ones visiting or living in the areas that have been hit the hardest expressed horror and regret, as fighting between Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon and Israeli forces escalated.

The World Lebanese Cultural Union in West Roxbury held an emergency meeting last night to discuss the conflict and ways on how best to raise money to aid families in Lebanon affected by the fighting. The Greater Boston Jewish community has also begun raising money, and more than a thousand people are expected to attend a rally in support of Israel in Brookline tomorrow.

Israel began bombing targets in southern Lebanon and parts of Beirut in retaliation for the killing of three Israeli soldiers and the abduction of two others by Hezbollah on Wednesday. Yesterday, Hezbollah fired about 50 rockets at Haifa, killing eight people and wounding dozens more.

For Raffol, who emigrated from Lebanon 22 years ago, each new report of an attack sends her further into despair. Her daughters, joined by two friends, left for their first visit to Lebanon in June, and Raffol and her four other children were going to join them this week. But Israeli aircraft bombed the Beirut airport and many of the major highways in Lebanon, making it nearly impossible for her to go and get her children.

Raffol said she not spoken to her daughters, Rachelle, 16, Caroline, 14, or Gabriella, 10, since Friday. Phone lines are down, electricity is out, and the girls have not been able to charge their cellular phones, she said.

``I am just so worried," she said. ``I want them to come back home. The only thing we can do is pray."

Raffol's son, Anthony Ghosn, 20, said he has been trying to calm his mother.

``I just tell her it is going to be all right," he said. ``I talk her into believing [President] Bush has an ultimate plan and will save them, anything to get her to not freak out."

Doryoseph, who was born and raised in Haifa, said her friends and relatives there have spent much of the past few days in bomb shelters. Doryoseph's uncle had a doctor's appointment Friday morning, but did not return home for several hours. His wife feared the worst, especially when sirens went off in the city, warning that another bomb attack was imminent. The uncle returned several hours later, but Doryoseph's family was still shaken.

``No neighborhood is safe," she said yesterday from Warwick, R.I., where she was spending time with her parents, who were visiting from Haifa for the summer. ``This is not just another CNN headline. It really is something that touches people here in Boston."

The attacks have united members of Boston's Jewish community, who have come together to show solidarity with Haifa, said Nancy Kaufman, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston. Political and community leaders from both cities often communicate, she said.

``We have gone into crisis coordinating mood," Kaufman said.

Lebanese in the area are also coming together in response to the crisis.

``We do not want to be political," said Ibrahim Dagher, secretary of the World Lebanese Cultural Union. ``We just want to find a way to provide some kind of relief to the families who have been affected. We will worry about rebuilding bridges and roads and things later."

Dagher moved to the Boston area from Lebanon 21 years ago, but most of his relatives, including his brother, still live about 15 minutes from Beirut.

``I can only imagine what the people of my village are going through," he said. ``All the roads leading to the area have been hit."

US officials said yesterday that they had no plans to evacuate the estimated 25,000 Americans in Lebanon, but asked US citizens to stay in contact with theAmerican Embassy, according to the Associated Press.

Rick Saghbini, 20, whose sister, Mary, traveled with Raffol's daughters to Lebanon, said he was unsure whether the girls should try to return home.

``The question is, do you risk their safety by them trying to leave and getting attacked by Hezbollah, or do you have them hold down and wait it out?" he said.

Sharon Cohen, whose 15-year-old daughter, Sarah, was in Haifa on a youth trip to Israel when the first Hezbollah attack occurred, said she never considered bringing her daughter back early, despite the escalating violence. The group was immediately relocated to Jerusalem and will continue the trip as planned until July 25, said Cohen, a Cambridge resident.

``Those of us who were raised by Zionists, we know where Israel is located, but we want to be there," she said. ``We want our kids to see it. We want to get back to it. It is sort of built into our lives. You just have to be as smart and safe as you can be."

Cristina Silva can be reached at csilva@globe.com.