Bangladeshi national killed in Beirut airstrike

DHAKA, Bangladesh — A Bangladeshi worker died in a airstrike in Lebanon, Dhaka’s foreign ministry says, as the Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets were said to hamper efforts by Dhaka to repatriate citizens.

Mohammad Nizam, 31, was killed on Saturday afternoon in a reported strike as he stopped at a coffee shop on the way to work in Beirut, Bangladesh’s ambassador to Lebanon, Javed Tanveer Khan says in a statement.

Mohmmad Jalaluddin says his younger brother Nizam had lived in Beirut for more than a decade, and had not been among the estimated 1,800 Bangladeshis who had registered for an evacuation flight home.

“We want to bury him in our ancestral home, and are now waiting for the government’s response,” Jalaluddin tells AFP.

But senior Bangladeshi foreign ministry official Shah Mohammad Tanvir Monsur says it is challenging to arrange a flight into Beirut.

“With the ongoing war, there are hardly any flights from Lebanon to Bangladesh,” Monsur says. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to repatriate our citizens who have registered to return home.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.