Australia orders all 'non-essential' officials to leave Lebanon
Australia has ordered all non-essential officials in Lebanon to leave, Canberra's foreign minister said Friday, after issuing the same command to diplomats in Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
In a post on X, top diplomat Penny Wong said they had been ordered to depart due to the "deteriorating security situation".
"Essential Australian officials will remain in-country to support Australians who need it," she added.
The warning came hours after Canberra issued the same order to officials in Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Canberra has said there are about 115,000 Australian nationals across the Middle East, of whom about 2,600 have returned home.
"We urge Australians in the Middle East to leave if you can and if it's safe to do so," Wong said.
"Don't wait until it's too late. It may be the last chance for some time."
The United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28 that killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and triggered a war in the Middle East.
Iran has responded with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel as well as Gulf states like the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar.
Officials said 14 people had been killed in Israel since the start of the Iran war, while attacks in the Gulf have killed 24, including 11 civilians and seven U.S. military personnel.
Inside Iran, its health ministry said this week that more than 1,200 people have been killed.
Hundreds more people have died in Lebanon.
Australia backed the U.S.-Israeli strikes as necessary to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
And Canberra said this week it would deploy a long-range military reconnaissance plane to the Gulf to protect civilians.
Source: Agence France Presse
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