The United States evacuated around 145 new people from Lebanon this Saturday, October 6, in two planes bound for Turkey, in the face of worsening Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
The United States evacuated this Saturday, October 6, around 145 new people from Lebanon in two planes bound for Turkey, announced the American State Department, in the face of the intensification of the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah.
“Two State Department-organized flights enabled the safe departure of approximately 145 passengers from Beirut to Istanbul, Turkey, today (Saturday),” a State Department spokesperson said in a press release, which does not specify their nationalities. Each aircraft could carry “300 passengers”, added the same source.
“So far, we have helped 600 American citizens, permanent residents (in Lebanon), as well as members of their first family circle from Lebanon via flights organized by the United States,” the spokesperson continued.
Hundreds of people already evacuated
Since September 24, the State Department has “made more than 2,600 seats available” on commercial or US-chartered flights departing from Lebanon, with “hundreds” having been used, he added.
At the end of September, the State Department advised American citizens to leave Lebanon “as long as commercial flights remain accessible” and called on those who chose to stay to “prepare to take shelter in the event of a deterioration in the situation.”
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The conflict between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and supported by Iran, has worsened since the intensification of Israeli strikes on Lebanon on September 23 and the launch by the Israeli army of a land offensive in the south of the country on the 30th.
A situation that is getting worse
More than a thousand people have died in Lebanon since the amplification of Israeli raids, according to the authorities, including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed on September 27 in the southern suburbs of Beirut, stronghold of the movement.
A front was opened between the two countries by Hezbollah on October 8, 2023, the day after the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israeli soil which sparked the war in Gaza.
Evacuations are increasing in the face of the situation in Lebanon: China told AFP on Saturday that it had evacuated 215 of its nationals from Lebanon. Many other countries have carried out evacuations or reserved hundreds of seats for this purpose.
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