Sahar Fares

Al-Qaa’s jasmine, as she was named after her hometown "Al-Qaa", in northern Bekaa. She lived in Dekwaneh with her parents and two younger sisters, and went to Antonine International School.

It is Sahar, the daughter of Georges Fares, born on January 7, 1993.

Sahar completed her middle school classes in Jdeideh Secondary School for Girls, and then enrolled in the Nursing Technical Institute in Dekwaneh.

After her graduation, Sahar worked at a private hospital, but did not stay long. She was forced to quit her job following a ministerial decree issued by Minister of Public Health Ghassan Hasbani, forbidding anyone without a university degree from working as a registered nurse. Yet, she did not give up, and attended a year-long training course in nursing with the Lebanese Red Cross. There, she was told that the Beirut Fire Brigade is recruiting nurses to become part of their teams.

In 2017, and after successfully completing the recruitment process, Sahar officially became a paramedic nurse in Beirut’s Fire Brigade.

On August 4, 2020, Sahar was not on duty, but her fiancé was taking a few days off to spend in Akkar. Sahar, who was planning her wedding, wanted to spend some quality time with him. She agreed with her colleague to replace her on Tuesday, and take Wednesday off, so she can leave to Akkar. On that Tuesday afternoon, the brigade received an emergency phone call about a huge fire in the Port of Beirut… They went onsite, and Sahar sent pictures of the fire to her fiancé. “Run!” he said, and the call was interrupted. Her father called her, but there was no answer. He kept calling her but to no avail…

Long excruciating hours for Georges Fares, his family, and friends, trying to find out Sahar’s fate... They spent the whole night going from one hospital to the other looking for her, but there was no trace of Sahar among the wounded, nor among the dead.

At the break of dawn, Georges Fares realized, deep inside, that his daughter was in the hands of God, that she had lost her life, but he kept his feeling to himself. He tried to stay strong, to cling to whatever impossible hope that would prove him wrong.

The family remained hopeful until the next morning, when Sahar’s younger sister received an official phone call informing her and her family that following thorough search of the port ruins, Sahar is confirmed a martyr.

In Al-Qaa, her birth town, Sahar did not get a regular funeral, but a wedding worthy of the bride that will forever be the village’s jasmine, whose perfume will live on and on.