Lebanon: Seats reserved for Australians on evacuation flights have been left empty prompting new warnings

Evacuation flights for Australians getting out of Lebanon are flying out with empty seats, prompting fresh warnings for citizens to evacuate the country.

A flight that left Lebanon on Thursday with 80 seats allocated for Australians had just 41 people take up the offer.

A further 500 seats are available on a flight that will leave Lebanon on Saturday, with only 238 Australians registering for the evacuation offer.

Assistant Foreign Minister Tim Watts reiterated calls for Australians to get out of Lebanon as the conflict in the Middle East intensifies but admitted the decision to leave would be a difficult one to make.

“We’ve been pleading with Australians in Lebanon to leave for quite some time now, and we’ve become more direct in those representations,” he told ABC TV on Friday.

“People have entrenched lives in that community, they live there, they have elderly family, they have businesses, they have properties, so it’s understandable.

“This is a heart-wrenching decision to leave, but our advice is don’t think twice about it.”

Israel has intensified military action against Lebanon, bombing southern parts of the nation and its capital Beirut, which has killed hundreds of people.

It comes as Israel has also threatened retaliation against Iran after it launched a missile strike.

Mr Watts said while Israel had the right to self-defence, he pleaded for a de-escalation of tension in the region.

“We need to break this cycle of violence that we’re seeing in the region. It’s not in anyone’s interest in the region to see a regional conflict, and that’s really what we are on the brink of at the moment,” he said.

“The victims of a regional conflict like that would be civilians, not just in Lebanon, but in Israel, in Jordan, throughout the region.”

As a deal was struck between NSW Police and pro-Palestine organisers for a protest to go ahead on Sunday ahead of the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks by Hamas, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton renewed calls for the rally not to take place.

While police had initially blocked the rally due to safety concerns after tensions in the Middle East escalated, organisers had agreed to change the location of the event.

Mr Dutton said the protest still should not take place.

“They’re compounding the grief of people who have lost lives and it’s completely unacceptable,” he told Nine’s Today program.

“Why would people want to do this? And I think there are people within the community, leaders so-called within the community, who should show greater sensitivity.”

Israel launched retaliatory strikes into Gaza in response to Hamas attacks on October 7 last year that killed around 1200 people, with about 250 people taken hostage, according to the military’s tallies.

About 42,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas, according to the local health ministry.

Government Services Minister Bill Shorten said the protest should not be confrontational.

“Most Australians don’t want to see these arguments from overseas coming to these shores. They certainly expect it to be peaceful,” he told Nine’s Today program.

“I’ll just say to any protesters, if you think somehow you’re convincing or changing anyone’s mind, think again.”