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Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force personnel and aircraft have been deployed to the Middle East under Operation Beech.
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Royal Australian Air Force C-130J military transport aircraft and military personnel were deployed in a non-combat role to the region by the Australian federal government.
The deployment of Australian aircraft and supporting Defence personnel is a precautionary measure to support whole-of-Australian government contingency planning and delivery of support for Australian citizens and approved foreign nationals in the region, if required.
The ADF contingent provides the Australian government the additional capabilities to assist Australian citizens and approved foreign nationals should the security situation deteriorate in the region.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles, speaking during a television interview on ABC Insiders on 6 October, said many Australians in areas of the Middle East, such as Lebanon, are facing a difficult security situation to leave the region.
“The suburb in Beirut where there is a Hezbollah presence is not far from the airport and so we have seen strikes near the airport but thankfully, at this moment, the airport remains open,” he said.
“In the last 24 hours we’ve had a couple of flights leave Beirut for Cyprus, on which we’ve been able to assist more than 400, largely Australian citizens, but under our guise, to leave Beirut. That takes to a total of more than 450 over the course of the last week.
“We’ve got arrangements with Qatar Airways and Qantas to fly those Australians from Cyprus back to Australia. Again, our message, which we’ve been repeating for some time now is this is the time to leave.
“The airport remains open, which is a blessing. It’s really important that people take the opportunity to leave. We’ve got about 3,600 Australians who have now registered with our embassy in Beirut, expressing a desire to have some form of assisted departure and we will continue to work with them and to provide those opportunities to leave, but people simply have to take those opportunities as they are provided.
“In practice, the situation in Lebanon is very difficult, which is why we have been very clear for months now that now is the time to leave. And now, literally, is the time to leave. I mean, we are providing for flights.
“It matters that people take the seats that are available to them ... We will continue to do what we can to provide assisted departure for Australians in Lebanon. But all of this is obviously taking place in an extremely difficult situation. And we have, you know, we’ve got other preparations in plan, we do have a couple of C-130 Hercules aircraft which are in Cyprus right now. There is a C-17 Royal Australian Air Force plane which is on the ground in Cyprus right now, and it will be relocating elsewhere within the region. We’ve got Defence Force personnel on the ground in Cyprus. So, there’s a lot of planning, a lot of operations which are going on to try and assist in this moment, but people need to take the opportunities which are being provided to them.”
Australians in the region who are seeking Australian government support should register via DFAT’s Crisis Portal or by calling the 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on +61 2 6261 3305 (from overseas) or 1300 555 135 (from within Australia).
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will continue to provide updates to registered Australians.
