Government secures hundreds of seats on flights leaving Lebanon for Australians

Australia is taking big action to get citizens out of Lebanon, with Penny Wong telling people to use “whatever option is available to you”.

The Albanese government has secured hundreds of seats on commercial flights leaving Lebanon as the Middle East appears on the brink of a major regional conflict.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the government secured 80 seats on flights leaving Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Thursday and a further 500 seats on Saturday.

But she said the flights depended on Beirut’s airport staying open and urged Australians to “please take whatever option is available to you”.

“Only 35 of those (80) seats have been taken up this morning,” she told reporters.

“What I would say to Australians who wish to leave, please take whatever option is available to you.

“Please do not wait for your preferred route. Please take whatever option is available to you.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the government secured 80 seats on flights leaving Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Thursday and a further 500 seats on Saturday. Picture: Today/Channel 9

At least one RAAF plane touched down in Cyprus late on Wednesday (local time).

NewsWire has sought confirmation on how many Australian military planes have landed in Cyprus and whether they would go on to Lebanon.

But Senator Wong said the government’s focus was on commercial flights at this stage.

While it is unclear how many Australians are still in the country, as many as 15,000 regularly reside there.

Defence Minister Richard Marles told the ABC the government was “working with our partners, particularly the United Kingdom and Canada”, to help repatriate people.

“We have been assisting Australians to leave over the last few days and we will continue clearly to do that as we move forward,” he said.

Defence Minister Richard Marles says Australia is working with the UK and Canada to evacuate Australians from Lebanon. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has escalated rapidly over the past two weeks, but the government has been urging Australians in Lebanon to leave for months.

Israel’s military said it was targeting the Lebanese capital Beirut in the early hours of Thursday (local time).

Peter Dutton also called on Australians in Lebanon to “listen to the advice of the Prime Minister and get out of Lebanon as quickly as possible”.

The Opposition Leader said he and the Coalition’s home affairs spokesman James Patterson had also asked for a briefing on how the government would manage security issues arising from people with “extremist” beliefs and were “happy” with the advice they had received.

“I would just say to people, please, heed the advice of Smarttraveller, of the Prime Minister, of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and exit Lebanon as quickly as you can and as safely as possible,” he said.

In another rare show of support for the Albanese government, former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce said earlier Australians who decided to stay in Lebanon must “accept the consequences” of not heeding the government’s calls to leave the Middle East country.

“The partisan nature of me would always be to go completely against the Prime Minister, but I won’t at this stage,” he told Nine’s Today.

Barnaby Joyce has issued a sobering message to Australians who decided to stay in Lebanon. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

He asked Australians in Lebanon if they wanted the “Australian Air Force to go into Beirut and pick you up?”

“That means you’re putting Australian soldiers, Australian servicemen and servicewomen’s lives on the line because you didn’t accept a warning that you got quite some time ago to get out of that part of the world,” he said.

“And now I hope that they can facilitate their removal from this area, but there does come a point where you say you’ve decided.

“You’ve made a decision some time ago to stay in a very dangerous part of the world, and by staying there, you now have to accept the consequences.”

Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza, launched a barrage of nearly 200 missiles at Israel on Wednesday, sparking fresh concerns the Middle East conflict could expand even further and involve more advanced arsenals in the region.

More to come

Originally published as Government secures hundreds of seats on flights leaving Lebanon for Australians