With flights cancelled and airlines suspending services to Beirut due to escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah, Australians in Lebanon are scrambling to leave the country. The Australian government is urging its citizens to leave immediately.
Flights are being cancelled and airlines are suspending the capital, Beirut, as a destination amid growing expectation the Australia n Defence Force will have to step in. Diana Abousattout's travel agency has been inundated by panicked calls from Australia n clients in Lebanon . 'Things are happening around their areas, outside their villages, where they can't leave to go anywhere, so they're trying to really get out,' she told 9News.
One of the lucky ones, 17-year-old Christian Aoukar, landed in Adelaide yesterday to hugs but his mum is still in Beirut. Israel's attacks on Lebanon, designed to eliminate the leadership of militant group Hezbollah, and Iran's retaliatory missile strikes, have left the region teetering on the brink of all-out war. 'We haven't slept a wink in days. We keep hearing the fighter jets above us all night,' she said, from Lebanon. 'The Australian government should, I think, help,' travel agent Abousattout said.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the it was a 'dangerous region at the moment'. 'We know that that is the case, but it hasn't just arisen in past days, and we have been calling for many, many months for people to take the opportunity to leave through commercial means when they could,' he said yesterday. 'We again reiterate that people should take any opportunity that they can to leave. 'But the Australian government, of course, will always do our best to look after Australian citizens.' There are about 15,000 Australians in Lebanon, about 100 of whom have secured flights in recent days to Doha and Dubai.When Australia last evacuated people from Lebanon, during the month-long war with Israel in 2006, airlifts became impossible, leaving evacuees to flee by boa
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