Nine Hungarian Citizens Evacuated from Lebanon with Slovakian Help

“For security reasons, we can only report on each evacuation operation after it has been completed. This happened today, therefore it can now be said that after August we have carried out another successful operation today, this time with the help of our Slovak friends,” the Hungarian Foreign Minister wrote on his Facebook page.

Péter Szijjártó reported that a rescue flight sent by Slovakia had left Lebanese airspace in the early hours of Sunday morning with nine Hungarian citizens and a Lebanese family member on board.

The plane landed first in Cyprus and then in Bratislava, thus all of them are now safe,”

he underlined. “Earlier, at the beginning of August, we had already evacuated Hungarians from the region, thanks to which our citizens who wanted to leave Lebanon were able to do so on a Defense Forces plane,” he recalled.

The minister added: “Due to the escalation of the situation in the Middle East, we have now offered our assistance to Hungarians in Lebanon once again. A total of ten of our citizens have responded to this appeal, hence we have agreed with our Slovak friends to provide a place for the Hungarians on the relief flight they are planning to launch.”

“This cooperation is not unprecedented, as we also offer, whenever we can, seats on our own evacuation flights to neighboring countries and EU countries, who regularly take advantage of this opportunity,” the politician said. “However, this time the Slovaks brought the Hungarians, whose evacuation was coordinated by our representation in Beirut, and the Hungarians were met by Hungarian consuls in Larnaca and Bratislava, who gave all the assistance to our citizens.”

“Today’s operation was a success, but

unfortunately the situation in the Middle East is worsening, therefore I strongly urge all Hungarian citizens to avoid the region during their travels in the coming period,”

Mr Szijjártó concluded his post.

Fact

Hezbollah launched attacks against Israel nearly a year ago, claiming solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza when Israel launched a war against the enclave in response to the October 7 massacre. Tensions in the region, however, have escalated since Israel stepped up its fight against Hezbollah last month, killing long-time leader Hasan Nasrallah and most of his senior commanders, and launching what it claims is a limited ground operation in southern Lebanon. The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006. Nearly 2,000 people have died in Lebanon in the latest conflict. Government officials estimate that 1.2 million people have been forced to flee their homes because of the war.