By Abdelaziz Boumzar and Heba Fouad
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Nearly 2,000 Turkish citizens and family members prepared to leave Beirut on two Turkish navy landing ships on Wednesday, evacuating from Lebanon over fears for their safety as Israel expanded its operations against Hezbollah militants.
Those gathering at the port said the deteriorating security situation and economic hardship in Lebanon prompted them to flee on the ships, which left Turkey on Tuesday.
“We cannot take this situation anymore. No one knows where this country is taking us. The siege is becoming bigger,” said Issa Malak, who like many of the evacuees holds Lebanese as well as Turkish citizenship. “There is no bread here. There is no future in Lebanon.”
The ships first unloaded humanitarian aid upon arriving in Beirut. Turkey’s defence ministry said they were carrying some 300 tons of supplies.
“There are beds, tents, blankets, food parcels, kitchenware and hygiene kits,” Turkish Ambassador Ali Baris Ulusoy told state-owned Anadolu news agency.
Ahead of the ships’ arrival, the passengers registered their papers and waited with their luggage.
“We’re leaving because the rockets and shells started dropping on us,” said Tarek Issa.
Mariam Darwish, who holds Turkish and Lebanese nationality, said she would travel with her 80-year-old Turkish father.
“The situation is becoming scary, and our neighbourhood became unsafe,” she said. “This is much safer for us and our children, our grandchildren and our health.”
The ships are expected to arrive in Turkey’s eastern Mediterranean city of Mersin on Thursday after a voyage of around 12 hours, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said.
The source said a few of the Turkish evacuees would be joined by foreign relatives. Earlier this week, the source said there were around 14,000 Turkish citizens in Lebanon. Beyond the two ships, Ankara will also charter flights out of Lebanon if there is demand, the source said.
Turkey has previously said it was working with around 20 countries on preparing for a possible evacuation of foreign nationals via Turkey. Hundreds of people of various nationalities arrived in Turkey from Lebanon last week on a commercial ferry.
(Reporting by Abdelaziz Boumzar, Heba Fouad in Beirut and Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Peter Graff)
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