First repatriation flight set to touch down in Australia

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First repatriation flight set to touch down in Australia

Hundreds of Australians fleeing Lebanon are about touch down on home soil after months of living in the latest strike zone of *******’s expanding war against Iranian-backed Islamist militants.

The first batch of Australians evacuated from Lebanon to Cyprus will land in Sydney on Monday night.

“On Sunday, 448 Australians and their immediate family members left Lebanon for Cyprus on government-assisted flights, bringing the total assisted departures to more than 900,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Monday.

“Tonight the first flight from Cyprus will land in Australia. We look forward to welcoming them home.”

Camera IconAustralian government officials assist Australians to depart Lebanon on two government-supported charter flights from Beirut airport to Larnaca, Cyprus. Credit: NewsWire

Cyprus, an island off Lebanon in the Eastern Mediterranean, is the nearest safe pick-up point.

Senator Wong said the federal government was working to help more Australians get out of Lebanon but noted that flights were “subject to security and operational restrictions”.

******* is intensifying air strikes in the Lebanese capital Beirut as part of its campaign against Hezbollah.

With the Lebanese ********** group positioned in neighbourhoods close to Beirut’s main airport, commercial flights in and out of the city could stop at any time.

NewsWire understands 904 Australians and their immediate family members have been evacuated from Beirut to Cyprus after the Albanese government scrambled to secure seats on flights following Iran’s missile strikes on ******* last week.

Two more flights are set to leave Beirut later on Monday.

As ******* launched deadly strikes in Gaza on Sunday, its forces also continued battering Beirut’s southern suburbs, in the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital since the conflict escalated last month. *******’s military said it was conducting targeted strikes on ****** and Hezbollah, coming as the country prepares to mark one year since the ************ militant group’s October 7 ******* on southern *******. Sean Hogan reports.

Qantas confirmed a flight departed from Sydney on Monday morning for the Cypriot city of Larnaca, where evacuees are in temporary accommodation.

“The flight is expected to depart Larnaca on Monday evening with up to 220 passengers on-board and arrive back in Sydney on Tuesday evening,” the airline said.

“Qantas will then fly passengers to their nearest home domestic airport that the airline operates to at no cost.”

In addition to medical personnel on the flight, Qantas said the *********** Red Cross would be “on the ground at Sydney airport on Tuesday to provide psychological first aid and other referral support for those returning home”.

The carrier said it would run a second flight expected to depart Larnaca on Wednesday.

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