Amid rising tensions, an Iranian journalist in Detroit shares fears for family in Tehran
Wayne State Ph.D. candidate Fariba Pajooh says she is “deeply concerned” for her loved ones after Iran fired at least 180 missiles into Israel on Tuesday.
People look at a destroyed building that was hit in Iran's missile attack in Hod Hasharon, Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024.
The escalating conflict between Iran and Israel is having a global impact, but for those with family in the region, it feels deeply personal.
Fariba Pajooh, an Iranian-born journalist and Ph.D. candidate at Wayne State University, remains deeply concerned for her family and friends in Tehran following Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel on Tuesday.
“I don’t feel good at all. The first thing that came to my mind was my people, my family, my friends,” Pajooh said.
She stays in close contact with her relatives, who are safe for now but describe a tense atmosphere. Long lines have formed at gas stations as people prepare to leave the city.
“My uncle told me, ‘Yes, we still have internet and electricity, so we are watching the news,’” she said, adding that her family and friends are nervous about the future. “They are very nervous… thinking about their kids.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against Iran, though it’s not clear what the retaliation will look like, or what the fallout on the region will be.
Pajooh stresses the importance of remembering that civilians on both sides are suffering. She encourages empathy from those watching the conflict from afar, asking them to recognize the innocent lives caught in the crossfire.
“I’m asking them to close your eyes and put your feet in somebody’s shoes,” she said. “People across the world, they are just people.”
Israel is now carrying out what it has described as limited ground operations across its northern border with Lebanon to dig out Hezbollah militants, after carrying out a series of massive air strikes that killed the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and decimated its leadership. The Israeli military on Thursday warned people to evacuate the city of Nabatieh and other communities in southern Lebanon that are north of a U.N.-declared buffer zone.
Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah after nearly a year of rocket attacks that began Oct. 8 and displaced some 60,000 Israelis from communities in the north. At least eight Israeli soldiers have been killed in clashes with the Iran-backed militant group during the ground incursion in southern Lebanon, the Associated Press reports.
Additionally, retaliatory strikes carried out by Israel over the past year have displaced tens of thousands on the Lebanese side. More than 1,000 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes over the past two weeks — nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he will not support an Israeli strike on sites related to Tehran’s nuclear program in response to Iran’s missile attack on Israel.
Still, as tensions in the Middle East rise, Pajooh remains deeply worried about her loved ones in Tehran.
“If it’s going to be an actual war… it’s not just for Iran, it’s challenging for the region,” she said.
The Associated press contributed to this report.
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