Libyan doc is worried sick
Tarek Shehima calls his wife and two children three times a day - just to check if they are okay.
Shehima is a Libyan gynaecologist working in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.
Thousands of kilometres away, his wife and two kids live under a cloud of violence in Tripoli, Libya, a country wracked by violence.
"What is getting to us is the fear and the confusion which comes with it. No one really knows what is going on. There is so much fear.
"I was back home in Tripoli for two months and you could feel the fear on the street."
He said while in Tripoli it was relatively quiet, the situation in Benghazi and Misrata was very different.
"In these cities it's a lot worse and those who are here [in South Africa], who are from Benghazi and Misrata, are very worried about their families. We really feel for them," he said.
Shehima said adding to their fear was the "arrival" of the Islamic State group in the country. "At the moment the militias appear to be bigger, but what is worrying is the Islamic jihadist group IS.
"Nobody knows how far they can reach, where they are operating and how big or well-equipped they are."
IS this week beheaded 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians on a Libyan beach, sparking worldwide condemnation.
Shehima is one of hundreds of Libyan doctors and engineers working in the country who fear for the safety of their families living back home.
Shehima said people were reluctant to go out on the streets. "People only go out if it is to go to school or to work. It is just too dangerous to do so otherwise. The feeling of safety is just not there.
"We are all worried about what is going to happen next. It is clear things are going to become a lot worse before they get better."
He said if the situation continued to deteriorate he would be forced to bring his family to South Africa.
"I sent them back so my son could go to school [in Libya], but there is no way I can leave them [there]. The problem is getting them out. There are no direct international flights. It requires at least five flights via different countries before one can get out."