Terror in hotel; Lebanon is such a beautiful country and it has been destroyed

Hill Shire Times (Australia)
July 25, 2006 Tuesday

NOTHING could have prepared 16-year-old Peter Kolokossian and his
brother Garbis for what they saw in Lebanon.

The Castle Hill teenagers were trapped in an hotel in the Christian
area of Beirut with the Sydney Armenian Dance Group, as the warfare
between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon escalated.

The trip of a lifetime lived up to all their expectations, with the
dance group lauded and applauded throughout the international festival
in Armenia, taking part in both the closing and opening ceremonies.

"The atmosphere was huge dancing in front of 20,000 people in Armenia,"
Garbis said.

"We were on Syrian, Armenian and Lebanese television. It was the most
amazing experience."

The group performed several concerts in Armenia during their three-week
stay and then a special concert in Syria before returning to Lebanon
for another concert before they flew home.

The had performed in Beirut when Garbis heard of the kidknapping of
two Isreali soldiers.

"I knew straight away that something would happen. Then 20 minutes
later my mum called and she was crying on the phone," he said.

The group was due to fly out the next day. It was that day Beirut
airport was bombed and the airport closed.

They and their families then waited five agonising days before
Australian consulate staff got them on to three buses and on the road
to Jordan through Syria.

Garbis said: "People were crying. One of the mums thought she’d never
get back for her son’s wedding.

"It was frightening."

He said they could not leave the hotel for two days, because when
they knew when they were evacuated, it would be quick.

"A lot of people didn’t want to go by bus because they knew one had
been blown up by the border and 20 people killed," Garbis said.

When the buses came, escorted by Australian Federal Police, it was
met with mixed emotions.

Peter said: "We had grown so close to some of the families [in
Lebanon’s Armenian community] our hearts were breaking leaving them
behind."

Garbis said he watched families clutching their young children as
the buildings shook around them.

"Lebanon is such a beautiful country and it has been destroyed,"
he said.

With bombs exploding close by, the brothers found themselves in two
different buses for the 17-hour journey to Amman in Jordan .

"We were packed like sardines," Peter said. "It was quiet," Garbis
said. "People were praying."

The brothers arrived most of the majority of the dance troupe at
Sydney airport at 10.30pm on Friday Garbis’s 19th birthday.

They were met by family, parents Silvia and Reg, plus younger brothers,
Michael and John sister Saree and aunts uncles, grandparents and
friends.