Ministry Of Foreign Affairs: A Total Of 40 Indonesian Citizens From Lebanon Arrive In Indonesia

40 Indonesian citizens (WNI) and one Foreign Citizen (WNA) from Lebanon run safely and smoothly to the country. (Azmi Samsul Maarif)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemlu) said the evacuation process for 40 Indonesian citizens (WNI) and one Foreign Citizen (WNA) from Lebanon went safely and smoothly to reach the country.

Director of Protection for Indonesian Citizens and Indonesian Legal Entities (BHI) Judha Nugraha said that in the evacuation stage for the return of 40 Indonesian citizens consisted of 38 adults, and two children.

"In addition, there is one foreigner from Lebanon, who is the wife of one of our Indonesian citizens who came home," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, October 7.

He explained that dozens of Indonesian citizens who entered the fifth wave at the evacuation stage from Jordan consisted of two flying groups (cluters).

For the first group, he said, consisting of 20 Indonesian citizens and one foreigner had traveled from Amman, Jordan, using Qatar Airways QR967 with arrival at 07.49 WIB.

Then, followed by the second batch, which consisted of 20 Indonesian citizens with arrivals at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, Banten, at 15.30 WIB.

"Alhamdulillah, we have arrived in Indonesia, of these 41 people are part of the process of evacuating Indonesian citizens by land which is complex and long from Berut to Damascus and then to Amman and we fly them to Indonesia," he said.

Regarding the repatriation process, he said, his party had experienced obstacles. Starting from the presence of Indonesian citizens who chose to stay at their place of residence to a long journey from Lebanon to Amman, Jordan.

"The difficulties faced were first from the side that there were still many of our citizens who chose to stay in Lebanon. And there were also Indonesian citizens who were detained in Lebanese Immigration, but we all lived it and in the end we got to Indonesia," he explained.

For the total number of Indonesian citizens who can be evacuated by the Government of Indonesia, he said, a total of 65 people have counted since the decision on an emergency status by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI) on August 4, 2024. However, until now there are 116 Indonesian citizens who still live in Lebanon.

"This is the result of coordination from all institutions, including the TNI, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social Affairs, and others at Soetta Airport, including from the Provincial Government from Indonesian citizens such as Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, Jakarta, West Java, Central, East, DIY and Bali," said Judha.