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SvennoJ 12 hours ago
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Evacuation flight from Lebanon lands in Poland: Ministry

The country’s Foreign Ministry says a plane carrying several dozen Poles and citizens of other countries who wanted to leave Lebanon has landed in Poland.

Several countries have drafted contingency plans to evacuate citizens from Lebanon after Israel started an intensifying bombing campaign there. No country has launched a large-scale military evacuation yet although some are chartering aircraft as Beirut airport remains open.

The Polish military carried out the flight to Warsaw, and the ministry said on X it is monitoring the situation in Lebanon and is “prepared for various scenarios”.


African migrants in Lebanon face bombardment and racism

In addition to the Israeli bombs falling on them like everyone else in Lebanon, African migrants in the country say they face discrimination.

Migrants are being rejected from some shelters, which are prioritising Lebanese amid the deadly Israeli attacks. And thousands are struggling under the abusive kafala labour system, a programme that binds a foreign worker to a local sponsor.

“We just want to go back home because we are tired,” Susan Baimba, a migrant worker from Sierra Leone, told Al Jazeera.




What are countries doing to get their nationals out of Lebanon?

Nations worldwide have prepared contingency plans to evacuate citizens from Lebanon.

  • Australia has organised hundreds of airline seats for its citizens to leave Lebanon, flying military aircraft to Cyprus in a contingency plan.
  • Brazil, which says 3,000 nationals want to be repatriated, has sent an Air Force Airbus A330 for those seeking to leave. The plane will fly 220 people out of Beirut on Friday and do two flights a week.
  • More than 200 Chinese citizens have been safely evacuated by the government, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
  • Reports from Canada suggest it will cooperate with Australia in evacuating nationals by sea.
  • Cyprus evacuated 38 of its nationals on Thursday using an aircraft provided by Greece. Cypriots in Lebanon are estimated to number 1,000 to 1,500.
  • France has had contingency plans for months, with current plans centred on Cyprus and Beirut airports. It is also discussing evacuations via Turkey.
  • Germany’s Foreign Ministry said it was flying another 219 nationals out of Lebanon on Friday.
  • Greece evacuated 22 of its nationals on Thursday, along with some Cypriot citizens.
  • Japan dispatched two C-2 military transport aircraft to Lebanon on Thursday, and they are on standby to evacuate the 40 to 50 Japanese citizens in Lebanon.
  • The Netherlands will send a military plane to repatriate nationals from Lebanon via two flights today and tomorrow.
  • A plane carrying several dozens of Poles and citizens of other countries who wanted to leave Lebanon landed in Warsaw today.
  • Romania evacuated 69 citizens from Lebanon in a military aircraft yesterday, its foreign and defence ministries said.
  • Russia has started evacuating citizens from Lebanon, with families of its diplomats leaving on a special flight from Beirut yesterday.
  • Spain said it planned to send two military aircraft to evacuate as many as 350 citizens from Lebanon.
  • Turkey’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday it was ready for a possible evacuation of Turks from Lebanon via air and sea and was working with about 20 countries to facilitate a possible evacuation of foreign nationals via Turkey.
  • The UK has chartered a limited number of flights for citizens to leave Lebanon.
  • The United States has ordered dozens of troops deployed to Cyprus to help prepare for scenarios such as an evacuation of Americans from Lebanon. It is working with airlines to add flights out of Lebanon, with more seats for Americans, the State Department said on Tuesday.


UK charters flight to leave Lebanon on Sunday

The UK says it has chartered a flight to leave Beirut on Sunday to support its citizens wanting to leave the country.

“Any remaining British nationals who want to leave Lebanon are urged to register their presence immediately to receive details on how to request a seat,” the government said in a statement.

About 250 British nationals have already been evacuated, it added.