Nationals brought home safely

Dubai: More and more UAE nationals are being evacuated from Lebanon, though the major road to Damascus have been bombarded by the Israeli missiles, buses and taxis and vehicles are taking other routes that lead to Damascus.

UAE ambassador to Beirut Mohammad Sultan Al Suwaidi told Gulf News that up to Saturday night more than 2,000 UAE nationals have been evacuated from Lebanon.

"This morning (Saturday) we sent about 220 people to Syria, and we have another 500 people to be evacuated by the end of the day," he said.

"We are thankful for the Lebanese authorities for all the help and support they are giving us, our nationals are not facing any problems on the borders except for the traffic at the Masnaa area due to the numbers of people leaving Lebanon," he added.

Syria

From the Syrian side, the UAE embassy in Damascus is also on alert "24 hours a day", according to an embassy spokesman.

Imad Harmalani, spokesman for the embassy in Syria, said since the onslaughts in Lebanon started; the embassy has formed a committee headed by Ambassador Yousuf Mohammad Al Madfaie to follow up with the issue of evacuating UAE nationals from Beirut.

"We have two connection offices, one at the Lebanese borders and one at the Syrian; both have employees from the embassy and both offices are receiving the UAE nationals moving them to the embassy in Damascus," he said.

Harmalani added that the embassy is considered a 'pit stop' to nationals who come and rest for a while before the buses take them to the Damascus International Airport.

"Some families choose to stay in Syria for a few days, we are making sure they get accommodation and all the facilities they need," he added.

Harmalani added that there has been a full coordination between the UAE embassy in Beirut and the one in Syria, "in addition to coordination between the embassy and both Emirates and Etihad Airlines that are offering extra flies from Syria," he added.
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Eman and Yasmin

Meanwhile, Eman and her 6-month-old daughter Yasmin were on their way to the Syrian borders when Gulf News contacted them

"We are on the way to Syria now, we supposed to pass through Chtoura, but they bombed it," she said.

"We changed our route and went through Zahle, but we found out that the road is close, so now we are going through Anjar and we hope we are expected to reach the Lebanese borders within a few hours," said Eman.

"I am here with my baby and my sister in the bus, we are scared as everyone but all our dependence is on God," she added.

Expatriates can get contact details of their embassies in Lebanon on the following link: http://www.lebanon.com/
directory/embassies/local/

Any UAE national who is in Lebanon now can also reach the UAE embassy in Beirut on 009611857000. The phone line is open 24 hours a day.