Indonesia Ready to Evacuate Citizens from Lebanon as Tension Escalates
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9 August 2024 21:09 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it is ready to apply a contingency plan to evacuate Indonesian citizens residing in Lebanon following the escalation of regional tensions.
"We’re preparing the steps to repatriate our 203 citizens in Lebanon, excluding our armed forces personnel in UNIFIL,” said the Director of Citizen Protection, Judha Nugraha, in a press conference in Jakarta, Friday, August 9, 2024.
Given the increasingly unstable security, the Indonesian Embassy in Beirut has up the alert status to Level I for the entire territory of Lebanon. Previously, Indonesia has set the same alert level for southern Lebanon.
However, most of the Indonesians residing in Lebanon told the embassy that they still feel safe in the country.
"The condition is relatively safe thus far, but we still ask them to follow the repatriation process to Indonesia,” Judha said.
According to Judha, most Indonesian citizens in Lebanon are married into local families. This, he added, is one of the contributing factors why they decided to stay in Lebanon.
Thus, the ministry urged those who decided to stay in Lebanon to remain vigilant about their personal security and follow instructions from local authorities.
Judha also ensured that the government would fully fund the repatriation cost to Indonesia.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi previously said that the government strives to carry out evacuation efforts for Indonesian citizens in Lebanon.
The ministry has also advised Indonesian citizens to temporarily suspend travel to Lebanon, Iran, and Israel considering the increasingly unstable security amid the escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
ANTARA
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