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Lebanon, Syria discuss Libyan rescue mission

25 February 2011

BEIRUT: Caretaker Foreign Minister Ali Shami asked Libyan authorities Thursday permission to send a plane to Tripoli airport in a bid to evacuate Lebanese citizens stranded in the crisis-stricken North African country.

Shami, who is currently in Rome on an official visit, also contacted his Syrian counterpart Walid Moallem and discussed the situation in Libya, the National News Agency said. The two reportedly discussed the possibility of employing Syrian commercial aircraft to help get Lebanese and Syrian nationals out of Libya.

Middle East Airlines, Lebanon’s national carrier, said it was awaiting permission from Libyan authorities to fly an Airbus A321 aircraft to Tripoli, possibly as soon as Friday.

The move came after caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri had instructed MEA chairman Mohammad Hout to lease planes at the Lebanese state’s expense. Hariri also reportedly contacted a number of friendly states that have citizens stranded in Libya to help in the evacuation of Lebanese expatriates.

Beirut airport sources told The Daily Star that around 200 Lebanese nationals had gathered at Tripoli airport before being turned away. It is thought that roughly 2,000 Lebanese, from multiple sects, currently reside in Libya. At even the most conservative estimate, one plane with a capacity of just over 100 passengers is unlikely to be sufficient to get all Lebanese wishing to leave out of the country.

Patricia Feghali, 38, from the Chouf, has a brother-in-law stranded in Tripoli. She declined to name him but confirmed that he worked in TV production in the Libyan capital.

“The last we heard from him he was and talking to us on the Internet. He has stopped showing up online today and we think he is now at the airport,” Feghali told The Daily Star.

“In Tripoli, he told us that for the past three days it hasn’t been as bad as some in the media are painting it, but it is possible he is giving us a good picture of things to stop us worrying.”

Feghali said her brother-in-law had initially been turned away at the airport, along with around 100 other Lebanese.

The Foreign Ministry is not in contact with Libyan airports and cooperation between Libyan and Lebanese administrations is scant. In 2008, Lebanon officially indicted Moammar Gadhafi for his alleged role in the disappearance of influential Shiite cleric Imam Musa Sadr, who has not been seen since he met with the Gadhafi in 1978.

Caretaker Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar Wednesday called for an investigation into Sadr’s case as Gadhafi clung to power in Libya. Feghali said Lebanese authorities had not given families with relatives in Libya any information. “There are no Lebanese planes at the airport and it was very difficult for people there,” she said. “Lebanese people have no planes and there is no way of getting them out. The Foreign Ministry told us they have no contact with Libya’s airports.”

Damascus has already sent two ships and scheduled several flights to help evacuate Syrian nationals, the Syrian News Agency said. Feghali said other Arab nations had sent planes to get their civilians out of harm’s way.

“We cannot allow him to stay there anymore. Many Lebanese went to the airport three days ago and they said that [Arab airline carriers] were only allowing their nationals to get on the flights,” she said. “My brother saw flights leaving for Jordan, but only for Jordanians.”

Even if MEA’s flight leaves Beirut in the coming days for Tripoli, Feghali said she would not stop worrying about her brother-in-law until he returned home.

© Copyright The Daily Star 2011.