Leinster rugby head coach Michael Cheika was stranded in Lebanon last week as hostilities between Israel and Hizbullah transformed the country into a war zone.
The Australian, whose parents are Lebanese, was visiting relatives in Beirut and the northern village of Ehden for two days to pay his respects after a family bereavement. A cousin, who relocated from Australia, died recently after suffering a heart attack.
The conflict erupted just hours before Cheika was due to return to Dublin for pre-season training. He was forced to remain in the country for 24 hours before renting a car and driver to take him over the Syrian border, where he got a flight from Damascus to Europe and eventually on to Dublin.
"Getting out of there was a day I'll never forget. My Australian citizenship didn't help much as there was a lot of intimidation and desperation at the border checkpoints. It took six hours to get into Syria."
Cheika is still endeavouring to help several Australian relatives gain safe passage out of the country.
"They may be able to get out with the French evacuation plan that is currently under way. When citizens from the major nations start evacuating you know the conflict is going to last for some time.
"I had been [in Lebanon] during the 1990s when the civil war was taking place, so I'd seen this sort of activity before. I remember on the motorway there used to be two lanes for traffic and two lanes for militia to transport aircraft.
"I have nine or 10 uncles and aunties who live there permanently. The Christian area where many of my relatives are based is just 15 minutes from Tripoli, which was a war zone, so in some pockets life goes on as usual. The locals are desensitised anyway. It is the foreigners who are most affected.
"This time, though, the rules of engagement have changed with the Israelis bombing other areas."
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