Spaniards join international exodus from Lebanon

18 July 2006

MADRID — A party of 152 Spaniards arrived back in Madrid on Tuesday after being the latest to be evacuated from Lebanon.

In total, more than 350 Spanish nationals have left the country in the past few days.

The foreign ministry said 175 were evacuated on Monday from Beirut by buses to Syria.

A Spanish air force jet will take them back to Madrid later on Tuesday.

Another 35 Spaniards left the war-stricken country on boats bound for Cyprus.

They will be taken by the French air force to Paris, before finally arriving home in Spain later in the week.  

Foreign ministry sources said almost all Spanish nationals who were working in Lebanon have been evacuated.

But another 100 said they wanted to leave.

Renewed fighting between Israel and the Hizbollah militants based in Lebanon on Tuesday did not appear to suggest any ceasefire was in sight.

An international exodus started at the weekend with 750 French, 300 Russians, 320 Germans, 379 Ukrainians and 82 Italians heading out of the country.

Hundreds of Britons have already headed back to London, via Cyprus on a fleet of small boats, provoking comparisons with the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. 

Australia has 25,000 citizens in Lebanon, though many have dual nationality.

So far, only 600 have left bound for Syria.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news