MIDDLE EAST: A second evacuation of Irish citizens from Beirut is being planned today as the first group is due to arrive at Dublin airport.
Some 80 Irish citizens were expected to arrive on an Aer Lingus flight from Dubai at about 5.20am today.
Their journey began on Monday morning when they left Beirut for Syria on two buses in an evacuation organised by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The convoy took 12 hours to reach Damascus, where it was met by a crisis response team which looked after the Irish citizens until they boarded a Government-chartered flight to Dubai in the early hours of yesterday morning.
A pregnant woman with two children was flown home yesterday on the Government jet as a precaution.
Yesterday, the Department of Foreign Affairs said that about 50 more Irish citizens had sought help in leaving Lebanon. They have been asked to gather at the the Irish Honorary Consulate in Beirut at 7.30am (local time) tomorrow for immediate departure by bus.
The exact route to Syria has not been worked out yet because of the changing security situation, a spokeswoman said.
A diplomatic official is travelling from Damascus to Beirut to aid the evacuation.
Karin Saab, a member of staff at the Irish Consulate in Beirut, said these people had not previously registered with the consulate.
"They are very anxious to leave but because we had no record of their presence here in Lebanon they were unable to join the group that left on Monday," she said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs's crisis line (1800-242548) is still operating for Irish citizens seeking help.
The Irish evacuation is a small part of the mass exodus from Lebanon.
A US cruise ship which can carry up to 1,000 people left Cyprus early yesterday to receive some of the 8,000 Americans registered as living in Lebanon. Five US warships were overseeing the exercise.
Britain has sent the first of a fleet of ships to evacuate 12,000 British nationals and another 10,000 of dual nationality.
France has transported 800 citizens by boat to Larnaca in Cyprus and will return to collect some of the 6,000 other French nationals.
A ferry sent by Sweden is expected to pick up about 1,500 nationals this morning. A Greek navy frigate arrived in Larnaca port yesterday, carrying about 400 Europeans from Beirut.
Many countries were sending planes to Damascus to collect some of the thousands arriving there by car. A Spanish air force Boeing 707 flew 113 people out of the Syrian capital and more than 152 were being transported from Amman. Additional reporting: Reuters
A father of two children living in Beirut last night appealed for help getting them safely to his home in Kilkenny, writes ÿine Kerr.
Munier Zabad, a resident of Ireland for more than four years, said he is entitled to family reunification but the necessary documentation was only made available recently and he has been unable to arrange for the delivery of his children's birth certificates and papers to the Department of Justice.
Mr Zabad's son Ali and daughter Gadai, aged seven and five respectively, have been living with their grandmother in Beirut for the last number of years.
On Monday, their home was bombed and they have since sought refuge under the stairs of the building in which they once lived, according to Mr Zabad.
"I'm willing to travel out there if I can be given some guarantee that I and my children can be brought back to Ireland safely," he said.
A friend of Mr Zabad's, Bridget Quinn, said his son Ali is quite ill with asthma and very distressed since witnessing children of his neighbourhood being fatally injured.
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said under normal circumstances it could take up to a year to process family reunification applications, but given the current climate in Beirut it might prove possible to organise temporary stays in Ireland.