On 6 November, in a TikTok video posted by @/aliaaaballout — the Singapore-based founder of Lebanese olive oil brand Beît Ballout — Alia described witnessing a bomb explode “just a few hundred meters away” during her annual olive harvest in South Lebanon.
“Hi guys, I’m Alia. I’m half Lebanese and half Singaporean, and I run a small business in Singapore selling Lebanese extra virgin olive oil,” she says in the video, explaining that she also hopes to “bring awareness to what life is really like in our part of the world.”
What was supposed to be a familiar trip home this October took a turn she never expected.
“I wouldn’t have imagined that I’d actually witness a bomb go off just a few hundred meters away,” she says. “I watched the colors get brighter and brighter and brighter, not knowing at what point it would stop.”
“Silence Itself Became Unsettling”
Throughout her stay, she describes an environment where danger felt immediate and constant.
“Every time we left the house, we’d later hear that a building nearby had been hit, sometimes five minutes before we got there, sometimes five minutes after we left.”
But what stayed with her most was the soundscape of the south — the unending buzz of military drones.
“The sound of drones filled the skies constantly. When they stopped, your brain would keep searching for them, like silence itself became unsettling.”
To her, the presence of those drones felt deliberate.
“To me, that wasn’t surveillance, that was terrorism… the goal wasn’t observation, it was fear.”
“Almost Everyone Knows Someone Who’s Been Killed”
Driving through villages, she encountered stories of families who disappeared overnight.
“We heard stories of entire generations of families being wiped out… And in the south, almost everyone knows someone who’s been killed.”
She ends her video by questioning what impact she can make — but believing that speaking up matters.
“I’m not really sure how much change I can make… Because silence helps no one, and stories are what keep people alive in our memory.”
Comment Section: Identity, Safety, and Support for Her Work
In the comments, one user challenged whether she could call herself both Lebanese and Singaporean.
Comment: “U can be Lebanese or Singaporean but not half half…”
Alia’s reply: “Why can’t be half half? My dad is Lebanese and my mom is Singaporean? And I have a Lebanese national ID and a Singaporean passport.”
Another commenter told her, “We pray for your safety.” Her response reflected the unequal realities she’s seen:
“I learnt from a very young age that not all lives are valued the same. So, because I’m Singaporean, my life is okay. We should pray for everyone else on the ground in Lebanon and Palestine.”
Other Singapore-based users asked where they could purchase her olive oil.
She replied that sales would reopen soon via their website and Instagram page, @beitballout.
Others recognised the resilience and hard work behind running the small business, and the realities of Israeli bombardment in Lebanon.
Beît Ballout: A Singapore–Lebanon Family’s Olive Oil Farm
According to the website, Beît Ballout is run by Alia’s parents — a Singaporean woman and Lebanese man who met in Oman in the early 1990s. The brand describes their partnership as “a lifetime of adventures, and a magical mix of culture.”
Their shared love for the Levant led them to revive the region’s ancient olive-pressing traditions.
The farm grows Nabli, Baladi, and Soury olives — varieties native to the Levant and cultivated since biblical times. According to their page:
“These olives represent a people whose stories are often forgotten.”
The farm also employs refugees from Syrian and Palestinian camps in the south every October, ensuring they are cared for during the harvest. Beît Ballout continues to use traditional Levantine methods, including a granite pressing wheel that has been used for over 100 years.
Their chateau and olive groves sit in “the magical valleys of South Lebanon,” where Alia returns every year for the harvest — even as danger grows closer.
What sets Beît Ballout’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil apart is that it contains no preservatives, meaning its full health benefits are best enjoyed within a year of harvest.
Unlike many olive oils, it has no bitter aftertaste, leaving a sweet, rich flavour with subtle earthy undertones.
Support Beît Ballout by purchasing via their website when sales reopen https://beitballout.com/shop-now/ and keep up with them via their Instagram @beitballout
“Silence Helps No One”
Alia’s video offers a raw account of what it feels like to be physically present when bombs fall and drones hover overhead — told by someone with roots in both Singapore and Lebanon.
And her message is clear:
“Silence helps no one, and stories are what keep people alive in our memory.”
Watch the video here:
@aliaaaballout Silence helps no one #fyp #lebanon #singapore #journalism #olives
More from Wake Up Singapore:-
From Singapore to Gaza: How Love Aid SG Delivers Hope Amid the Rubble
Bread, Tradition, and Roots: How a Singaporean Baker Found Belonging in France
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