Australians in Lebanon.
Australians trapped in Lebanon say they have been left “stranded” after being told Beirut airport was closed for departures and flights were being cancelled.
The federal government has issued urgent calls to evacuate the country amid heightened tensions of a possible war with Israel.
But several Australians said they had been left alone to find their way back home, with some of them asking the Australian government to find some solution for them.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stated that “there are thousands of Australian citizens, thousands who have travelled to Lebanon this year in spite of the very clear statements that the Australian government has made.”
The Australian government issued a do-not-travel warning to Lebanon on 19 October 2023, and this has been in effect for the last 9 months.
Many Lebanese Australians across Australia have said these warnings won’t change their plans to travel to their homeland.
It has been estimated that between 15,000 and 30,000 Australians remain in Lebanon.
What caused the latest Israel-Lebanon fighting.
Israel launched an attack that targetted, and killed, Fouad Shukur on 30 July 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon.
Who is Fouad Shukur?
Fouad Shukur is a Hezbollah top commander.
Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim militant organization backed by Iran and based in Lebanon.
Hezbollah was classed as a terrorist organisation by a number of countries, including the 22 member states of the Arab league, between 1997 and 2016.
In early 2024, the Arab League removed Hezbollah from the terrorist classification, but many other countries still list them as a terrorist group.
Israel blames Shukur for the 27 July 2024 rocket attack in the Golan Heights. This strike, by Hezbollah, killed 12 children while playing soccer.
The United States blames Shukur for staging and planning a bombing of a Marine Corps barrack in Lebanon in 1983 that killed 241 American service members.
Hezbollah has been firing rockets into northern Israel since the 7 October 2023 attack into Israel by Hamas.
Israel Hezbollah war 2006
In 2006, Hezbollah forces entered Israel in a cross-border kidnapping operation. This led to a war that left over 100 Israelis dead and devastated Lebanon.
The Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, later announced that he would not have conducted the operation if he had known a war would occur.
This sounds similar to the October 2023 invasion of Israel by Hamas, with its cross-border kidnapping operation. This also led to the devastation of the Gaza territory.
More on the subject at www.csis.org
and www.iranintl.com and
www.cfr.org