It's moving down the mountain

I talked to my best friend this afternoon. They had to leave their house at midnight last night. The Ishtarikiye told all the women and children to leave Aitat. The men were supposed to say to defend their houses. Above them is Keyfoun. Below them is Abadiye. Both are military arsenals of Hizbollah. She went to her friend's house in another Druze village. The kids were crying.

I talked to her around 1 this afternoon, and she was at home in Aitat. About 30 minutes later, when I was tutoring my nephew, we saw on the news that fighting starting again in Aitat. Then about half an hour later, it was saying it was in Choiefeit.

My best friend wasn't answering her phone. So I called my other friend who lives in Choiefeit, but I knew she's be at her house in the Chouf. We talked. She was in the Chouf. She talked to our other friend an hour earlier, and she said things were bad.

After a while, the honking in the streets kept getting louder and louder, and we could hear more gun fire and distant bombs. I saw the people moving fast in the street, and the shops were closing. I called Joe and told him to come home.

I put on my shoes and left. I saw two little girls running past me, "Huye mish bil beit. (He's not home.)" And I saw two little girls on a roof yelling to someone, "Ija. (He came.)"

The people were walking fast. One lady was running. People were tripping out. When I came home, people were standing at the window, looking at the black smoke on the mountain.

We're watching the bombs. I've been back for half an hour. It keeps getting louder. A car alarm just went off.

I keep calling my friends in Aitat. The line is busy.

And I'm Facebook chatting with an old high school friend who says that the US is planning an evacuation. They have some boats in Greece.