STORY: :: Australian residents land in Cyprus after being evacuated from Lebanon
:: October 5, 2024
:: Larnaca, Cyprus
“I really feel I really feel very unhappy leaving my nation, however I am very glad to start out a brand new life in Sydney.”
(Journalist asking “Had been you in any hazard”)
“Undoubtedly. I used to be within the south. I misplaced my home, my children misplaced their rooms, our garments. But it surely’s advantageous, life goes on. I want the very best for Lebanon.”
(Journalist asking: The place are you going to be staying in Australia?)
“In Australia I’ve some kin.”
(Journalist asking: Will you ever return in Lebanon?)
“By no means, ever. I used to be traumatized. My children had been traumatized as properly. It isn’t a secure nation. I will not be again.”
:: Fiona Mckergow, Australian Excessive Commissioner to Cyprus
“I haven’t got numbers for the following flight, however we have had 229 residents come by way of. Australian. They will all be occurring to Australia. As I mentioned, they’re exhausted, exceptionally glad to be right here, however heartbroken as a result of they’ve left household behind.”
(Journalist asking: But it surely’s potential that these are the final flights out of Beirut for Australia.)
“I do not anticipate them to be the final.”
Greeted by a number of officers, together with the Australian excessive commissioner to Cyprus, Fiona McKergow, evacuees had been supplied apples and water, earlier than being boarded onto a bus.
Talking to the press, one lady detailed having to flee after her house was destroyed by bombing. She mentioned she by no means intends to return to Lebanon.
Lebanon’s authorities says greater than 2,000 folks have been killed because the begin of the Israeli assaults on Lebanon within the final 12 months, together with 127 kids. Many of the casualties have come prior to now two weeks.
