On the run, Lebanese woman who stole own savings says she's not the criminal

FILE PHOTO: A man walks past a closed Blom Bank branch in Sidon, on the first day of a three-day closure over security concerns, in Sidon, southern Lebanon September 19, 2022. REUTERS/Aziz taher

BEKAA VALLEY, LEBANON (Reuters) - On the run from authorities after forcing a bank to release her family savings at gunpoint to treat her cancer-stricken sister, 28-year-old Lebanese interior designer Sali Hafiz insists she is not the criminal.

"We are in the country of mafias. If you are not a wolf, the wolves will eat you," she told Reuters, standing on a dirt track somewhere in Lebanon's rugged eastern Bekaa valley where she has since been in hiding.