BEIRUT: Nearly 2,000 Turkish citizens and family members prepared to leave Beirut on two Turkish navy landing ships on Wednesday, evacuating from Lebanon over fears for their safety as Israel expanded its operations against Hezbollah militants.
Those gathering at the port said the deteriorating security situation and economic hardship in Lebanon prompted them to flee on the ships, which left Turkiye on Tuesday.
“We cannot take this situation anymore. No one knows where this country is taking us. The siege is becoming bigger,” said Issa Malak, who like many of the evacuees holds Lebanese as well as Turkish citizenship. “There is no bread here. There is no future in Lebanon.”
The ships first unloaded humanitarian aid upon arriving in Beirut. Turkiye’s defense ministry said they were carrying some 300 tons of supplies.
“There are beds, tents, blankets, food parcels, kitchenware and hygiene kits,” Turkish Ambassador Ali Baris Ulusoy told state-owned Anadolu news agency.
Ahead of the ships’ arrival, the passengers registered their papers and waited with their luggage.
“We’re leaving because the rockets and shells started dropping on us,” said Tarek Issa.
Mariam Darwish, who holds Turkish and Lebanese nationality, said she would travel with her 80-year-old Turkish father.
“The situation is becoming scary, and our neighborhood became unsafe,” she said. “This is much safer for us and our children, our grandchildren and our health.”
The ships are expected to arrive in Turkiye’s eastern Mediterranean city of Mersin on Thursday after a voyage of around 12 hours, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said.
The source said a few of the Turkish evacuees would be joined by foreign relatives. Earlier this week, the source said there were around 14,000 Turkish citizens in Lebanon. Beyond the two ships, Ankara will also charter flights out of Lebanon if there is demand, the source said.
Turkiye has previously said it was working with around 20 countries on preparing for a possible evacuation of foreign nationals via Turkiye. Hundreds of people of various nationalities arrived in Turkiye from Lebanon last week on a commercial ferry. (Reporting by Abdelaziz Boumzar, Heba Fouad in Beirut and Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara Writing by Daren Butler Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Peter Graff)
Turks set to evacuate from Lebanon by ship, driven by safety fears
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Turks set to evacuate from Lebanon by ship, driven by safety fears
- Those gathering at the port said the deteriorating security situation and economic hardship in Lebanon prompted them to flee on the ships, which left Turkiye on Tuesday
Palestinian coach gets hope, advice from mum in Gaza tent
- The manager, himself a former left-back, says he wants his players to convey the spirit of his mother and Gazans like her
DOHA: Coach Ehab Abu Jazar is guiding a national team that carries on its shoulders all the hopes and sorrows of Palestinian football, but it is his mother, forced by war to live in a Gaza tent, who is his main inspiration and motivation.
The war that broke out following Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 put an end to Palestinian league matches, and left athletes in exile fearing for their loved ones in Gaza.
But Abu Jazar’s mother refuses to let the conflict overshadow the sporting dreams of her son, to whom she feeds tactical advice from the rubble of the Palestinian territory by phone.
“She talks to me about nothing but the team. She wants the focus to remain solely on the tournament,” the 45-year-old manager told AFP.
“My mother asks me about the players, who will play as starters and who will be absent, about the tactics, the morale of the players and the circumstances surrounding them.”
The manager, himself a former left-back, says he wants his players to convey the spirit of his mother and Gazans like her.
“We always say that we are a small Palestinian family representing the larger family,” he said.
“Undoubtedly, it puts pressure on us, but it’s positive pressure.”
The Palestinian team are 96th in the FIFA rankings, and their hope of playing in their first World Cup vanished this summer.
But the squad, most of whom have never set foot in Gaza, is within reach of the Arab Cup quarter-finals, keeping their message of resilience alive.
Palestine play Syria in their final Arab Cup group match Sunday, where a draw would be enough to achieve an unprecedented feat for the team.
He said progress would show the world that the Palestinians, if given the right conditions, can “excel in all fields.”
- ‘Genes of resilience’ -
Abu Jazar finished his playing career in 2017 before managing the Palestinian U-23 team and eventually taking the top job last year.
After the war broke out, his family home was destroyed, displacing his mother in Gaza, like most of the territory’s population during the height of the conflict.
He now feels pressure to deliver for them after witnessing from exile the horrors of the war, which came to a halt in October thanks to a fragile US-backed ceasefire.
“At one point, it was a burden, especially at the beginning of the war,” he said.
“We couldn’t comprehend what was happening. But we possess the genes of resilience.
“If we surrender and give in to these matters, we as a people will vanish.”
In her maternal advisory role, Abu Jazar’s mum, who goes by the traditional nickname Umm Ehab, is only contactable when she has power and signal.
But she works around the clock to find a way to watch the team’s matches from Al-Mawasi camp.
“My mother and siblings... struggle greatly to watch our matches on television. They think about how to manage the generator and buy fuel to run it and connect it to the TV,” he said.
This determination is pushing him to give Gazans any respite from the reality of war.
“This is what keeps us standing, and gives us the motivation to bring joy to our people,” he said.
“All these circumstances push us to fight on the field until the last breath.”
