Tripoli: Ihab Matar is a member of Lebanon’s parliament, but he wants to make one thing clear. He considers himself at least as Australian as he does Lebanese. “I still live there,” he stresses when asked when he moved from Australia to Lebanon. “I live in Australia – I have my business there.”
Matar, 43, was born in Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city when the country’s 15-year-long civil war was still raging. After finishing high school, he moved to Sydney in 2000 to study computer science, later switching to medicine and becoming an Australian citizen. When the most recent Lebanese elections were approaching three years ago, he was living happily in Sydney with his wife and children, teaching anatomy at UNSW and completing a PhD.
Australian citizen and independent MP Ihab Matar at his office in Tripoli.Credit: Kate Geraghty
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