About four hundred people have so far registered for assistance with departure from Lebanon to the Netherlands. Of that group, more than two hundred people now meet the conditions to be allowed to fly, reports Minister of Foreign Affairs Caspar Veldkamp.
The Ministry of Defense is sending a plane to the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday. Another plane will follow on Saturday. The planes will fly back to Eindhoven.
Those eligible for repatriation have been or will be contacted on Thursday. More flights may follow.
People who want to leave Lebanon must register via the so-called Crisis Contact Form. They have until Friday afternoon to register to be eligible for repatriation. If it is determined that they have the correct documents, they will receive more information about the trip. The applicants will then also hear how much luggage they are allowed to take with them.
People who remain in Lebanon but later want to leave can continue to count on help from the embassy. The ministry will then see if these people can join a commercial flight or a military flight from another country. There are still commercial flights from Lebanon.
If the Dutch planes are not completely full on Friday and Saturday, the Netherlands is happy to take people from friendly countries, says Veldkamp.
On Wednesday it turned out that around three hundred people had registered for assistance with departure. In the meantime, around a hundred more registrations have been added.
Who is eligible for repatriation?
Dutch citizens, partners or children of a Dutch citizen or caring parents of a minor Dutch child are eligible for repatriation. This also applies to persons with a valid residence permit for the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius or Saba.
