MANILA: The Philippines said on Friday it will evacuate 11,000 citizens from Lebanon the moment Israeli forces cross the border to launch a ground offensive against Hezbollah.
Israeli bombing of Iran-backed Hezbollah strongholds around neighboring Lebanon has killed hundreds of people this week, while the militant group has retaliated with rocket barrages.
Israel has rejected a US-backed 21-day ceasefire call, and its military chief has told soldiers to prepare for a possible ground offensive.
“A ground invasion will lead to mandatory repatriation,” Foreign Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said at a press conference in Manila, adding the plan was to move thousands out of the country via the sea.
He did not provide other details.
Manila had earlier urged Filipinos to leave Lebanon before airlines stopped flying to Beirut but most of its citizens did not heed the call, Filipino diplomats said.
Millions of Filipinos work overseas — with large numbers concentrated in the Middle East — due to limited job opportunities at home. Around 90 percent of those working in Lebanon are women migrant domestic workers.
“To some of them, getting killed in war is preferable to starving to death,” de Vega said, adding there have so far been no Filipino casualties from the Israeli air campaign against Hezbollah.
After Israel’s war with Hamas erupted last year following the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack, Manila began voluntary repatriations of its citizens from the areas affected by the fighting.
The conflict has since spilled into Lebanon, with Israel’s ongoing bombardments in the country raising fears of an all-out regional war in the Middle East.
So far, only 500 Filipinos have taken up the government’s offer to leave Lebanon, De Vega said.
Filipino ambassador to Beirut Raymond Balatbat said 196 Filipinos have fled southern Lebanon, where the Israeli campaign has been concentrated.
Most Filipinos working in the country are based in central Lebanon around Beirut, he added.
Anthony Mandap, consul-general at the Philippine embassy in Tel Aviv, said there are no plans as of now to repatriate some 30,000 Filipinos working in Israel.
Philippines says to evacuate thousands from Lebanon if Israel invades
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Philippines says to evacuate thousands from Lebanon if Israel invades
- Israeli bombing of Iran-backed Hezbollah strongholds around neighboring Lebanon has killed hundreds of people this week, while the militant group has retaliated with rocket barrages
Philippines probes Bondi Beach suspects’ visit, downplays militant training reports
- Suspects spent 4 weeks in the Philippines last month
- Govt says no evidence visit linked to militant activity
MANILA: The Philippine National Police launched on Wednesday a probe into the recent visit to the country of a father and son whom Australian authorities have identified as suspects in last week’s mass shooting in Sydney.
Two gunmen killed 15 people and wounded dozens of others during Hanukkah celebrations at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday.
The suspected shooters, identified by Australian authorities as Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram, traveled to the Philippines last month.
The news has prompted various media outlets to speculate that there are links between their visit and the Sydney attack — an allegation Manila has since denied.
The investigation launched by the Philippine police seeks to establish the purpose of the suspects’ travel and their movement while in the country.
“This matter is being investigated as we seek to determine the reason behind their visit to the Philippines. We are finding out which places they went to, who they talked to, and where they stayed while they were in the country,” Philippine National Police acting chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said in a statement.
Bureau of Immigration data shows that 50-year-old Akram and his 24-year-old son arrived in the Philippines from Sydney on Nov. 1. They left the country on Nov. 28 via a connecting flight from Davao in the southern Philippines to Manila, with Sydney as their final destination.
According to a police statement, Philippine authorities, including the government and military, said there was no evidence the trip was related to any militant activity in the country and was “not considered as a serious security concern.”
Australian media reports linking the suspects to Daesh and alleging the group used the Philippines as its training ground were denied by the Philippine government.
“Information from operating units on the ground indicates no ongoing training and recruitment,” Department of National Defense spokesperson Arsenio Andolong told Arab News.
“There is no indication of imminent domestic terrorist threats.”
Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro also dismissed the claims as “misleading” and “portraying the Philippines as a training hotspot for violent extremist groups.”
She told reporters that the National Security Council “maintained there is no confirmation to allegations that the father-and-son suspects in the recent mass shooting in Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia, received training in the Philippines.”
Castro added that Philippine security forces “have significantly weakened” Daesh-affiliated groups since the 2017 Marawi siege.
The southern Philippine city in Mindanao island was in 2017 taken over by groups affiliated with Daesh. After five months of fighting and hundreds of deaths, the Philippine army reclaimed the area.
“Both UN and the US government assessments indicate that these groups now operate in a fragmented and diminished capacity,” Castro said.
“Violence in Mindanao is largely driven by historical conflicts and local clan disputes rather than the operational capacity of ISIS-affiliated organizations.”
