Rising Lebanese soccer star left in coma by Israeli airstrike

By Riham Alkousaa and Joelle Kozaily

Leading Lebanese footballer Celine Haidar is in a medically-induced coma after she was critically wounded in an Israeli strike near her home in Beirut's southern suburbs - her international championship prospects on hold.

Captain of her club team and already included in the national youth team twice, the 19-year-old refused to allow her training to be interrupted by Israel's bombardment, even as her own family fled to a mountain town east of Beirut.

She convinced her parents to let her return home alone so she could continue training, assuring them she would leave every time the Israeli army issued an evacuation warning for a neighbourhood it was intending to bomb.

But last Saturday, she missed the warning.

She was asleep when the Israeli military spokesman posted an evacuation warning for her neighbourhood. Her parents called her and urged her to leave immediately, but time was short.

An Israeli warplane struck as she leapt onto her motorbike. She was hit by shrapnel, which left her with severe brain injuries, including multiple skull fractures and brain bleeding.

The Israeli military was not immediately available to comment on the strike.

She is now in an intensive care unit at Saint George Hospital in Beirut, connected to monitors and a breathing tube, with her head bandaged, according to her coach Samer Barbary.

Her parents, Abbas Haidar and Sanaa Shahrour, stand watch over her, struggling to comprehend the calamity that befell their daughter and praying for a miracle.

"I never thought I would have a daughter like her," her father said, his voice heavy with emotion. "She has dreams and strength. She always told me, 'You'll see what I will accomplish tomorrow.'"

She is among over 15,000 people wounded by Israeli strikes over the past year, with bombardment of Beirut's suburbs escalating dramatically over the last two months.

The Israeli military says it is striking infrastructure belonging to armed group Hezbollah, which counted the suburbs, as well as south and east Lebanon, as its strongholds.

More than 670 women and 230 children are among the more than 3,500 people killed, Lebanon's health ministry says.

Haidar's teammates have hung a poster at their training field saying: "We are waiting for you".

"She is the cornerstone of our team," her teammate Lama Abdin, 18, said. "But we will play for her. We will achieve her big dreams."

Team coach Barbary said Haidar had already represented Lebanon twice with the under-19 national team which won the 2022 West Asia cup that was held in Lebanon. She was already selected for the seniors national team and was expected to be selected for the upcoming West Asia championship, he said.

Even though doctors say they do not know when she will wake up again, her mother, Sanaa, has refused to give up hope.

"I am waiting for you. Don't give up. You are a hero. Every night, I see you in my dreams, coming back to me," she told Reuters.