SYDNEY, Oct 3 (Askume) – Australia has arranged hundreds of air seats for its citizens to leave Lebanon, Foreign Minister Wong Yin-hyun said on Thursday, as he urged thousands of Australians who remain in the country to wait until they were able to do so and leave the country.
Australia has reserved 580 seats on flights departing on Thursday and Saturday to allow citizens, permanent residents and their families wishing to leave the country to travel to Lebanon, Huang told a press conference. Flights were also scheduled for earlier this week.
He said about 1,700 Australians and their families had registered with the government that they wanted to leave Lebanon.
Australia has a large Lebanese diaspora, with around 15,000 Australians living in Lebanon, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
“Please pursue whatever options are available to you. This is not the time to wait and see, this is the time to go,” Huang said.
Australia has for several weeks been telling its citizens and permanent residents to leave because the sheer number of Australians in Lebanon would make a government-sponsored evacuation difficult.
Huang said two flights to Cyprus on Saturday depended on whether Beirut airport was open.
“We are deeply concerned about the worsening of the situation. If Beirut airport closes, departure options will be further reduced,” he said.
The foreign minister said Australia had sent military aircraft to Cyprus as part of its contingency planning, but the focus would remain on commercial flights as long as Beirut airport remained open.
Huang reiterated his support for a US-backed ceasefire plan to end the “cycle of violence” in Lebanon . Israel rejected the plan .
