Middle East

Australian Army Soldiers board a Royal Australian Air Force aircraft in support of Operation Beech, at RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland. *** Local Caption *** Australian Defence Force personnel and aircraft have deployed to the Middle East in non-combat roles under Operation Beech 2025 to assist Australian Government efforts to support Australians seeking to leave the region. This is as a precautionary measure to support Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade led whole-of-Australian-Government contingency planning and delivery of support to Australian citizens and approved foreign nationals in the region. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are the lead agency for Australian consular assistance and support.

Aussies get a step closer to home as air force jets arrive in UAE

Two Royal Australian Air Force C-17 Globemasters have arrived in the United Arab Emirates ahead of the start of repatriation flights for Australians out of the Middle East.

NETWORK SPECIAL. NO NEWS,COM OR AUS, PLEASE CONTACT NETWORK PICTURE DESK BEFORE PUBLISHING. Paul Hakin runs Nippers in Israel and said the latest conflict between Israel and Iran has taken its toll on him and his family and disrupted his ability to teach children water safety and rescue skills in Israel during the peak summer season. Paul Hakim at Coogee Beach surf life saving club on Christmas Day in 2023.

National

Australian icon canned in Israel amid Iran missile attacks

Paul Hakim, who moved to Israel in 1987, brought an iconic part of Aussie culture to the beaches near Tel Aviv. Now his family of four and their dog spend more time in their bomb shelter.

Each time the sirens sound across Tel Aviv warning of an incoming barrage of Iranian rockets, May Dohand is gripped by the crippling fear she will soon be dead.

Middle East

‘I imagine I’m going to die soon’: Israelis’ gripped by fear

One woman from Tel Aviv who speaks for many Israelis says she is sleep deprived and traumatised as air raid sirens don’t stop sounding across the capital warning of constant danger.