Australia evacuates 86 citizens from Lebanon, more extractions planned

Agence France Presse — English
July 17, 2006 Monday 12:16 PM GMT

Australian said 86 of its citizens were evacuated from Lebanon Monday
and negotiations were underway with Israel to bring out more of its
nationals caught up in the latest violence.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said three busloads of Australians
fled Lebanon, avoiding Israeli bombing attacks to cross to safety
in Syria.

"Tomorrow, we will endeavour to try and repeat this exercise," Downer
told reporters. He said Canberra was also hoping to charter a boat
Wednesday to evacuate up to 600 more Australians desperate to flee
Lebanon, which in recent day has been hit by Israeli air strikes.

Most of those evacuated were young members of an ethnic Armenian
dance group and their parents, who had been touring Lebanon.

"They had an uneventful trip to Syria and I can confirm they are
now having lunch in Damascus," said Archbishop Aghan Baliozian,
the Sydney-based spokesman for the Sevan Dance Group.

Earlier, Downer said Australia had been negotiating with both Israeli
and Lebanese authorities to guarantee safe passage for its citizens.

"There is no point in providing buses and ships for them to get out
if those buses are going to end up being attacked and people killed,"
he said.

"So we have been talking to the Israelis as well as the Lebanese
authorities and our plan is to endeavour to get a number of people
out on buses."

Downer said there were about 25,000 Australian citizens living in
Lebanon, although the vast majority had dual nationality and did not
plan to leave. He said some 4,500 Australians were registered with
the embassy in Beirut.

"There are some that want to leave, there are some who think it might
be safer to stay put rather than to run the gauntlet of going on a
bus," he said.

Australia is a strong supporter of Israel but also has a large
Lebanese community.

In Jerusalem, a senior Israli security official told AFP Israel was
coordinating with the United States and the European Union on the
evacuation of foreign nationals from Lebanon.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress