Simon Birmingham says there are ‘limits’ to helping Australians in Lebanon
Written by admin on October 4, 2024
Coalition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham says there are “limits” to what Australia can do to help Australians in Lebanon as the rapidly expanding conflict in the Middle East continues to heat up.
The Albanese government has secured hundreds of seats on flights leaving Lebanon’s capital Beirut this week, but only a handful have taken up the opportunities to get out despite intensifying Israeli strikes on the city.
Senator Birmingham said on Friday the possibility of Australians dying in Lebanon was “a concern”, but that those who were still there “have chosen to stay against explicit warnings from the Albanese government”.
He told Sky News that he and Foreign Minister Penny Wong had been “on a unity ticket” for months when it came to telling Australians “do not travel to Lebanon and leave if you are there.”
“Now, people have chosen to ignore that,” he said.
“The government is doing the right thing in terms of trying to still urge people to go and to create some extra seats for them to go.
“But I think many Australians would rightly think, if you’ve chosen to stay, there have to be limits on what the government can do, on what risk other Australians are put in to try to rescue people, and that certainly people should be expected to pay their own way to get back and not to think that other Australian taxpayers are just going to foot the bill for those who have ignored countless warnings to get out and to get out weeks and months ago, not just days or hours ago.”
Health officials in Lebanon said 37 people were killed and 151 injured in Israeli strikes on the country’s south on Thursday, adding to the more than 1300 deaths already reported since Israel ramped up its attacks against Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah late last month.
Israel’s military said Hezbollah launched some 230 rockets from Lebanon on Thursday.
It also vowed to continue its attacks on the Islamist militant group after claiming to kill yet another member of Hezbollah’s senior echelon.
With Israel poised to respond to a barrage of nearly 200 missiles fired at it by Iran earlier this week, there are fears the conflict could grow to involve more advanced arsenals in the Middle East and escalate to a large-scale regional war.
Anthony Albanese on Friday renewed his government’s urgent plea for Australians in Lebanon to get out any way they can.
“We have been warning for many months now, pleading with people to please leave Lebanon because it is not a safe place,” the Prime Minister said.
“We have 500 places made available for Australians to leave tomorrow.
“We have organised and assisted the safe passage of a number of Australians this week, we are putting in measures.
“We have, for some time, been planning measures to make sure that people can be looked after, but we do say if people can leave by commercial means, they should take up the opportunities as soon as possible.”
The government announced on Thursday that it had secured 500 seats on commercial flights leaving Beirut on Saturday, but the airport could close at any time.
Australian Defence aircraft have landed in Cyprus, which lies in the Eastern Mediterranean near Lebanon.
NewsWire has asked the government whether those planes would continue on to Lebanon.
As many as 15,000 Australians are in Lebanon, but just more than 2300 have registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for evacuation assistance.
