Lebanon crisis: Australians land at Brisbane Airport after evacuation from Middle East
Tearful Queensland families have told of their fear and the drama of last-ditch evacuations from Lebanon amid Israeli air strikes, as loved ones touched down in Brisbane this morning.
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There were emotional scenes at Brisbane Airport as hundreds of evacuated Australians arrived into the arms of their loved arms after a repatriation flight out of Lebanon.
Intense Israeli attacks may have forced up to a million people to flee parts of Lebanon in possibly the worst displacement crisis in the tiny country's history.
The Australian Government chartered flight 3L876/HFM876, operated by Hi Fly Malta with an Airbus A340-312, touched down at Brisbane International Airport from Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport in Sri Lanka at 3.55am, carrying 272 Australians and family members.
Dozens of Queenslanders greeted their family members with tears and long hugs as they entered the arrivals terminal, while staff from a host of government agencies were on hand to offer assistance.
Gold Coast grandmother Julie Pritchard hadn’t seen her daughter Lily Obaid, 28, and her two grandsons Mohammad, 7, and Zayd, 5, since 2019.
“I have just to come to pick up my daughter and her family,” Ms Pritchard said.
“I haven’t seen them for five and a half years.
“So we wanted to make sure that they are home safe now, because they love it over there, but unfortunately, the world as it is today makes it really hard to live in those sort of places.
“It got worse and worse, as you know, with everything happening and then her husband decided ‘we need to get you home safe’.”
Ms Pritchard said she had many sleepless nights over the past few weeks.
“It was very frightening but where they were they were okay, it just got worse and worse every day, so I am glad to have them home,” she said.
“I was worried, sleepless nights, sleepless weeks every time you hear something it is not good, it’s been hard, but they’re home now.”
Sam Ibrahim told of his fear as Israeli bombs fell “next to the airport”.
“It was very scary, I didn’t want to say anything to them (his family) because I saw it when we were in the plane, I didn’t want to scare the family, but I heard they closed the airport one day after our plane took off,” Mr Ibrahim said.
“I saw smoke from two places next to the airport.
“I was more concerned when the plane took off that they might hit us.”
Mr Ibrahim expressed his gratitude to the Australian Government for getting him and his immediate family out of Lebanon.
“We appreciate the government for bringing us back home safe, the family we very appreciate the government,” he said.
While grateful to be in Australia, his daughter-in-law Ghinwa Ibrahim said the flight wasn’t a good experience.
“It was bad, I got scared for my kids, they have never seen any violations in their life, it was very scary, but I thank the Australian Government for bring us home safely.
“I wish for my home country to be safe.”
Newlyweds Joseph and Joelle Antoun were on their honeymoon in the war-torn country when they decided to return home.
“We are glad we call Australia home to be honest, we’re very safe here,” Mr Antoun said.
“Happy to call it home,” Ms Antoun said.
Ms Antoun said the process to get home was “tiring” with two full days of travel involved.
“Very tiring, but easier than other people,” she said.
“God help the others, good luck to everyone.”
Mr Antoun said the first thing he was going to do when he got home was check for a possible pregnancy.
“We were on our honeymoon, so we’re going to check out probably a baby or a pregnancy,” he said while laughing.
“We’ll see.”
Ms Obaid said she was grateful she and her family had been able to make it to Brisbane safely.
“It feels like a dream, we love there, but we love here as well,” she said.
Ms Obaid added that the crisis in Lebanon is worsening.
“From the north, we could hear the noises of the planes and stuff …. it (the conflict) was getting closer and closer and we just thought it is time to go,” she said.
Ms Obaid said her family got the call to leave in the middle of the night.
“It was really last minute we had no time, packed everything and we went,” she said.
“We feel safe now, we just hope things get better because that’s home and this is home.”
Mahmood Abdul spoke of the horror of children getting killed in Lebanon.
“A lot of innocent people are being killed lately, mostly toddlers and kids,” he said.
“It’s very bad and I am really sorry about what is happening in Lebanon.”
The 67-year-old said he is grateful to be in Australia.
“I love Australia, I grew up in Australia, this is my country, I’m 67 years old I have been here 49 years, I spent most of my time here,” he said.
The arrivals come after conflict escalated in the Middle East over the past two weeks, with thousands fleeing Lebanon into Cyprus.
On Monday, the first flight out of Lebanon touched down in Sydney, carrying 349 people.
The Qatar flight from the Cypriot port of Larnaca landed at Sydney Airport just after 7:30pm.
A total of 1215 Australians, permanent residents and their immediate family members have been assisted by the Government to depart Lebanon, as of Tuesday, October 8.
3892 Australians and their immediate family members registered to depart with vulnerable and displaced passengers prioritised. 904 have already left Beirut Airport on assisted flights.
Further flights are planned in the coming days but flights out of Beirut are subject to demand, operational capacity and the security situation. Australians wanting to leave were staying in temporary accommodation in Larnaca, Cyprus and returning to Australia on connecting flights.
On Tuesday morning, Foreign Minister Penny Wong took to social media to confirm the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was working to help all Australians in Lebanon who wanted to leave.
There are now 3665 Australians and their immediate family members registered as wanting to depart Lebanon.
The total number of Australians and their family members who have returned to Australia to 1117.
“Australians are urged to register with DFAT and take the first available option to depart.
Government-assisted flights are subject to demand and security conditions on the ground,” Senator Wong wrote in a post to X, formally Twitter.
During Question Time on Tuesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reinforced the steps Australians should take to leave Lebanon.
“Our message to Australians in Lebanon remains to please take the first flight option that is available to you; there should not be an empty seat on any of these flights,” he said.
“We will not be able to continue these flights indefinitely.”
Australians in Lebanon who wish to leave should ensure they are registered via DFAT’s Crisis Portal or by calling the Australian Government‘s 24 hour Consular Emergency Centre on +61 2 6261 3305.
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