Hundreds rally for Lebanon at Dearborn protest calling for ceasefire

DEARBORN, Mich (FOX 2) - Hundreds of protesters gathered in Dearborn showing support for Lebanon as fighting intensifies in the Middle East.

The rally was held Wednesday at the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn as tensions have risen overseas with the threat of a full-blown war breaking out in the region.

Wayne County Commissioner Sam Beydoun was at the rally

"It’s very emotional," said . "My dad is back home and he’s fleeing for his life along with my brother and my sister, so it’s very close to us. "

At least a couple thousand members of Metro-Detroit’s Arab-American community pledged support for their native lands the same day Hezbollah fired a ballistic missile at Tel Aviv following Israeli strikes on Lebanon that killed hundreds.

It’s the latest escalation in an 11-month-long war, deepening the crisis in Gaza and the surrounding area.  

"The message is we’ve had enough of the killing and the destruction in Gaza and now it’s happening all over in Lebanon," said Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab-American News. "Whether in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen, or in Syria and anywhere, people are dying for no reason.

"We need to stop this, because this is only country that can do it. And unfortunately, our leaders are - either they do not want to do it - I believe that this is the case - and they are complicit in this war."

Organizers of the rally say it is even more critical now for the Biden Administration to stop arming Israel and call for an immediate end to the bloodshed before it expands.

"Unless our government, the Biden Administration, does something to immediately halt this genocide in Gaza which is spreading into Lebanon, it could spread into a regional war," Beydoun said. "And that’s the last thing we want. We don’t want to send our sons and daughters overseas. We don’t want to do that."