More Hungarian citizens evacuated from Lebanon, says Hungarian FM Szijjártó

Hungary has carried out another successful evacuation operation during which eight Hungarian and four foreign citizens left Lebanon on an aircraft of the Hungarian armed forces, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said on Saturday in Budapest.

One hundred Hungarian citizens are currently registered for consular protection in Lebanon, while the Beirut foreign mission has 210 people in its sights, most of whom live permanently in the country, Péter Szijjártó said.

“We have already offered the possibility of a full evacuation to Hungarians living and staying in Lebanon four times. I continue to ask Hungarians not to go to the Middle East unless they have a very compelling reason, because apparently the security situation is changing minute by minute, and unfortunately these changes are not for the better, but for the worse,” he said.

Szijjártó noted that in addition to the evacuation operation, the government also carried out a successful humanitarian operation in Beirut, delivering critical donations to their Lebanese partners to support displaced people, including members of the Lebanese Christian community.

Destruction in Dahieh region of Beirut following Israeli attacks. Photo: Anadolu news agency

“Everything that happens in the Middle East fundamentally affects global security. That is why we are concerned about everything that is happening in Lebanon, and we sincerely hope that the armed operations that have spread into Lebanon will not mean the spread of the crisis to the entire region,” the minister said.

Szijjártó said that it must also be clearly seen that hundreds of thousands and millions of people in Lebanon are not to be blamed about the attack that terrorist organizations committed against Israel, so the suffering of the innocent must be stopped.

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