MADRID: Spain plans to send two military aircraft to evacuate as many as 350 citizens from Lebanon as early as Thursday, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said on Wednesday.
“The Spanish airplanes are ready, the staff are ready, as always with the professionalism of the Spanish army,” she said in an interview with Antena 3 TV station.
A group of 350 Spanish citizens present in Lebanon have asked to go to Spain, Robles said in the interview.
Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares had said earlier this week around 1,000 Spaniards were in Lebanon.
Israel was hit on Tuesday evening by rockets launched from Iran following a ground incursion of the Israeli armed forces into south Lebanon where they clashed with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
The operation followed intense air strikes that have devastated Hezbollah’s leadership, including longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in Beirut last week.
Beside the 1,000 Spanish residents in Lebanon, Spain has commanded the United Nations’ Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and deployed 650 troops along the southern Lebanese border with Israel, since 2022.
Spain to evacuate citizens from Lebanon, Defense Minister says
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Spain to evacuate citizens from Lebanon, Defense Minister says
- A group of 350 Spanish citizens present in Lebanon have asked to go to Spain
US accuses South Africa of harassing US officials working with Afrikaners
WASHINGTON: Washington on Thursday accused South Africa of harassing US government employees working with Afrikaners, the white minority to whom President Donald Trump is granting refugee status, in the latest escalation of tensions.
The State Department said that passport information of US officials was leaked and warned in a statement that “failure by the South African government to hold those responsible accountable will result in severe consequences.”
South Africa replied that the allegation was unsubstantiated and rejected “any suggestion of state involvement in such actions.”
The accusations came after South Africa arrested and expelled Wednesday seven Kenyans brought in by the US government to assist in processing Afrikaners seeking to move to the United States.
President Donald Trump’s administration has claimed Afrikaners are victims of discrimination and even “genocide,” which the Pretoria government strongly denies.
South Africa said the Kenyans arrested at a processing center on Tuesday were on tourist visas that did not allow them to work — the type of violation seized on by Trump as he carries out mass deportations from the United States.
The State Department alleged that Americans had also been briefly held in the raid, which it said the United States “condemns in the strongest terms.”
It added that officials’ passport information had been made public.
So-called doxxing, or revealing personal information, “is an unacceptable form of harassment” and puts people in harm’s way, the State Department said.
It did not immediately provide further details on the purported incident.
‘Seeking clarity’
South Africa “noted an unsubstantiated allegation regarding the private information” and was seeking clarity from Washington, the foreign ministry in Pretoria said later.
“We categorically reject any suggestion of state involvement in such actions,” it said in a statement.
The government has already said no US officials were arrested in Tuesday’s raid, which was not carried out at a diplomatic site.
The seven Kenyan nationals who were expelled had violated South African law by working without the correct permits, the foreign ministry repeated.
“The government will not negotiate its sovereignty and the implementation of the rule of law,” it said.
Trump has repeatedly attacked South Africa’s post-apartheid government over what he calls persecution of the Afrikaners, an allegation that had gained ground online with the far-right.
He has been increasingly open on his desire to rid the United States of immigrants other than white Europeans and all but ended the once-generous US refugee resettlement program, which now only accepts Afrikaners among all the world’s people.
The State Department in a separate statement Thursday confirmed it did not invite South Africa to an initial meeting on planning next year’s Group of 20 summit, the first time a member of the bloc is being excluded.
