Harambee Stars' Masoud Juma (left) and midfielder Anthony Akumu who is based in Lebanon.
Holed up in his apartment in Beirut, Lebanon, Harambee Stars midfielder Anthony “Teddy” Akumu hardly slept after midnight on Saturday.
A loud explosion at a hotel in Beirut at around midnight left him so terrified that he only managed to catch two hours of sleep from 4:30am on Sunday.
The 32-year-old former Gor Mahia midfielder is among three Harambee Stars players stranded in Lebanon following United States-Israel war on Iran. The other two are midfielder Austine Odhiambo and forward Masoud Juma.
Akumu, Odhiambo and Juma all play for Lebanese Premier League side Nejmeh Sporting Club, which is coached by former Harambee Stars coach Engine Firat, who died on Momday, March 9, 2026.
Harambee Stars midfielder Antony Teddy Akumu walks out to the pitch prior to their international friendly match against Madagascar at the Stade Robert Bobin in Paris on June 7, 2019. PHOTO | COURTESY |
With a flight to catch back to Nairobi at around midday in Beirut, Akumu was scheduled to leave his apartment in Beirut for the airport at around 8:30am local time.
“I was very scared (after the explosion on Saturday midnight),” Akumu told Nation Sport on Sunday on the phone from Beirut, just moments before starting his journey back to Kenya.
“I was awake until around 4:30am. I think I slept for only two hours,” the midfielder, who has also featured for Sudanese club Al Khartoum, Zambian club Zesco United, South Africa’s Kaizer Chiefs, Japanese club Sagan Tosu, and Kheybar Khorramabad in Iran, said.
Harambee Stars' player Masoud Juma.
On Sunday, international media reported that four people were killed in the Israeli air raid on the hotel. Ten others were wounded. Israel said it targeted the commanders from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
On Friday, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health reported that 217 people had been killed, and an additional 798 others wounded in Israel’s attacks on the West Asian nation. An estimated 95,000 people had been displaced, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health. On Sunday, Odhiambo and Juma also secured flights back home. Only a few flights are available out of Beirut as most flights remain cancelled.
“When the team manager came to pick me up from my apartment to take me to the airport, he informed me that I was very lucky because my flight had not been cancelled. He informed me that many flights had been cancelled,” said Akumu. Odhiambo arrived in Nairobi on Saturday, and Akumu arrived at noon yesterday. Juma was due to leave Beirut at 6pm local time on Sunday and was expected in Nairobi on Monday afternoon.
Harambee Stars midfielder Austin Odhiambo.
Before the attack on a hotel in Beirut at midnight on Saturday, Akumu said there had been sporadic gunshots near his apartment earlier in the day.
He recalls hearing 18 gunshots, but he did not make an effort to find out what the incident was about.
“I am happy to be finally returning home, but at the same time, I feel very sad for my teammates and friends that I’m leaving behind,” Akumu said.
“I’m pained by their suffering. Very many people have been forced to live in a very small place in Beirut,” the veteran midfielder said, adding that his family was relieved when he informed them that he would be flying back to Kenya.
Since his apartment is located in one of the safest places in Beirut, Akumu has left his apartment to one of his teammates to accommodate the family, which relocated to the capital city from Beirut’s outskirts and the southern suburbs which have been under heavy bombardment. Odhiambo and Juma also left their apartments to their teammates to accommodate their family members for the time that they will be away.
Harambee Stars' midfielder Anthony Akumu.
Akumu said Beirut is currently overcrowded since thousands of people have arrived from areas that are under Israeli bombardment. Some families sleep on the streets, others in cars. Akumu said getting food in Beirut has not been a problem as most of the time business continues as usual .
Problems started on February 28, just moments before a league match in southern Lebanon, when Akumu and his teammates were informed to return to Beirut immediately. Southern Beirut borders Israel.
Akumu said that while in Beirut, they heard several explosions. Photos shared on social media later revealed serious destruction. The attacks, Akumu said, intensified last week, with explosions round the clock, some taking place near their apartments.
“It is a very sad situation. People outside Lebanon don’t get to see everything that is happening on the ground, but they (explosions) are things that, if you are not used to them, you get terrified very much,” said Akumu.
He explained that before an area comes under attack, an evacuation warning comes hours before the attack. But the warning does not specify the building to be attacked. Akumu, Odhiambo and Masoud have been following the warnings via the club’s WhatsApp account.
“The raids target specific people, and before the attack, a warning is sent detailing the area to be attacked and the number of hours that the people living there have to evacuate,” Akumu said, noting that the attacks have led to many deaths and injuries. In what the Harambee Stars midfielder described as “very disgusting”, Israeli intelligence drones have been hovering over Beirut’s skyline most of the time.
Before football activities were halted in Lebanon, Nejmeh were chasing both the Lebanese Premier League title and the domestic cup.
Currently, Nejmeh are third on the log in the 12-team Lebanese Premier League with 31 points. Al Ansar are top with 41 points, followed by Jwayya on 32 points.
Nejmeh have qualified for the final of the domestic cup.
“The season has progressed very well. We were fighting to win the championship and the Cup. We were focused on our job, and this situation has really distracted us,” the veteran midfielder said.
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