<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>330240</docID> <postdate>2024-10-04 10:05:55</postdate> <headline>Empty seats on evacuation flights out of Lebanon</headline> <body><p><img class="wp-image-330241" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20241002166389486368-original-1.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Australians have been offered flights out of Beirut's airport near the sites of Israeli air strikes. (AP PHOTO)</caption> <p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line">By <b>Andrew Brown</b> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>Evacuation flights for Australians getting out of Lebanon are flying out with empty  seats, prompting fresh warnings for citizens to evacuate the country.</strong></p> <p>A flight that left Lebanon on Thursday with 80 seats allocated for Australians had just 41 people take up the offer.</p> <p>A further 500 seats are available on a flight that will leave Lebanon on Saturday, with only 238 Australians registering for the evacuation offer.</p> <p>Assistant Foreign Minister Tim Watts reiterated calls for Australians to get out of Lebanon as conflict in the Middle East intensifies, but admitted the decision to leave would be a difficult one to make.</p> <p>"We've been pleading with Australians in Lebanon to leave for quite some time now, and we've become more direct in those representations," he told ABC TV on Friday.</p> <p>"People have entrenched lives in that community, they live there, they have elderly family, they have businesses, they have properties, so it's understandable.</p> <p>"This is a heart-wrenching decision to leave, but our advice is don't think twice about it."</p> <p>Israel has intensified military action against Lebanon, bombing southern parts of the nation and its capital Beirut, which has killed hundreds of people.</p> <p>It comes as Israel has also threatened retaliation against Iran after it launched a missile strike.</p> <p>Mr Watts said while Israel had the right to self defence, he pleaded for a de-escalation of tension in the region.</p> <p>"We need to break this cycle of violence that we're seeing in the region. It's not in anyone's interest in the region to see a regional conflict, and that's really what we are on the brink of at the moment," he said.</p> <p>"The victims of a regional conflict like that would be civilians, not just in Lebanon, but in Israel, in Jordan, throughout the region."</p> <p>As a deal was struck between NSW Police and pro-Palestine organisers for a protest to go ahead on Sunday ahead of the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks by Hamas, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton renewed calls for the rally not to take place.</p> <p>While police had initially blocked the rally due to safety concerns after tensions in the Middle East escalated, organisers had agreed to change the location of the event.</p> <p>Mr Dutton said the protest still should not take place.</p> <p>"They're compounding the grief of people who have lost lives and it's completely unacceptable," he told Nine's Today program.</p> <p>"Why would people want to do this? And I think there are people within the community, leaders so-called within the community, who should show greater sensitivity."</p> <p>Israel launched retaliatory strikes into Gaza in response to Hamas attacks on October 7 last year that killed around 1200 people, with about 250 people taken hostage, according to the military's tallies.</p> <p>About 42,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas, according to the local health ministry.</p> <p>Government Services Minister Bill Shorten said the protest should not be confrontational.</p> <p>"Most Australians don't want to see these arguments from overseas coming to these shores. They certainly expect it to be peaceful," he told Nine's Today program.</p> <p>"I'll just say to any protesters, if you think somehow you're convincing or changing anyone's mind, think again."</p> </body>