DUBAI — “There are around 10 UAE nationals who are still expected to leave Lebanon via the land border routes to Syria,” the UAE Ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammed Sultan Al Suweidi, told Khaleej Times yesterday.
“They are among those who have approached us for help. But we are waiting for the security situation to improve in northern Tripoli so that we could assure their safe passage to Damascus.
“We don’t want to risk anybody’s life,” Al Suweidi said.
He pointed out that the situation in the vicinity of the UAE embassy in Al Ramlat Al Bayda area is
relatively calm. “We are hearing of clashes and exchange of fire elsewhere in parts of El Jabal area. But in Beirut, though the main roads are still blocked, including the ones leading to Rafik Al Hariri International Airport and the port, the situation is calmer.”
Al Suweidi noted that the majority of evacuees had only been in Lebanon for a few days when the unrest broke out. They had gone there to spend their vacations.
The UAE envoy pointed out that the UAE embassy in Beirut was also helping other nationalities as a humanitarian gesture. “We were approached by a Lebanese lady who was eager to leave Lebanon so we secured her a seat among our citizens to the Lebanese-Syrian borders,” he pointed out.