From the Liveblog of
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Turkey’s navy begins evacuating its citizens from Beirut as Israel strikes Hezbollah
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
BEIRUT — Over 2,000 Turkish citizens and some foreign have started boarding a Turkish military ship that brought in aid and will take them out of a country being hit by Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah.
Zehra Cibbin, an ethnic Arab from the southeastern Turkish city of Mardin who lives in Beirut with her Lebanese husband, got off a bus packed with the other evacuees, her two children in tow and luggage in hand.
“It’s indescribable. They bombed the street below our house. From that moment on, it was over for me, I said I didn’t want to stay in Beirut anymore,” says Cibbin, 46.
Cibbin says they decided to leave Beirut out of fear for their lives, putting no thought into what will happen when they arrive in Turkey.
She speaks to The Associated Press before getting in line to board the TCG Bayraktar amphibious landing vessel, which along with the TCG Sancaktar will take on evacuees.
They are part of a six-ship convoy including escorts that set sail from the southern Turkish port of Mersin early Wednesday, transported 300 tons of humanitarian supplies, including food, hygiene kits, kitchenware, tents, beds and blankets.
Besides the Turkish citizens, people from Bulgaria, Romania and Kazakhstan were among those who applied to evacuate on the ships. Officials did not provide numbers.
The Times of Israel Community.