DANGER ZONE. Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Hamam last Saturday, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah. International mediators have been trying to reach a Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas Palestinian militants, which diplomats say could help to avert a wider war in which Lebanon would be on the front line. Inset photo shows 15 Filipinos including three children who arrived in Manila after opting for voluntary repatriation from Lebanon. AFP/DMW FB page
15 Filipinos leave Lebanon as conflict between Israel, Hezbollah worsens — DFA
The Philippine government is working to get more Filipinos out of Lebanon as the armed conflict between Israeli forces and the Hezbollah paramilitary group worsens, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said over the weekend.
DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac reported in the department’s FB page they were able to repatriate thus far 15 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), including three children.
The operation is part of broader evacuation efforts triggered by the rising tensions, with Lebanon now under Alert Level 3, allowing for voluntary repatriation.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is coordinating with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to facilitate the repatriation process.
Cacdac said an additional 45 Filipinos are expected to return to the Philippines next week. He assured that “onsite monitoring” and shelters are in place for Filipinos still in Lebanon, where around 300 have requested assistance for repatriation in recent months.
Filipinos in Lebanon are urged to contact the DMW hotlines for assistance as the situation remains volatile.
The urgency of these efforts comes as the conflict intensifies in Lebanon. An Israeli airstrike in the Nabatieh region already killed 10 Syrians, including a woman and her two children, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Hezbollah responded by launching Katyusha rockets into northern Israel, sparking multiple fires but causing no casualties.
As violence continues to escalate, with significant casualties on both sides, there are growing fears of a broader Middle East war.
Diplomatic efforts, led by Egypt, Qatar, and the US, are underway to broker a ceasefire, but a resolution remains elusive.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left Saturday on a mission to the Middle East to push ahead a Gaza ceasefire deal, as cautious optimism rises.
The top US diplomat, who is putting off vacation plans for his ninth trip to the Middle East since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, will fly to Tel Aviv ahead of expected meetings with the Israeli leadership.
He has routinely visited Arab states on previous trips but no further stops were immediately announced.
Blinken flew out of Andrews Air Force Base after two days of ceasefire talks urged by President Joe Biden brokered with Egypt and Qatar wrapped up in the Qatari capital Doha.
US officials said they made progress and offered a proposal to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas, with talks to resume later in the coming week in Cairo.
Biden said that “we are closer than we have ever been” to a deal, with a US official saying the process was not in its “end game.”
The official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said that the diplomats were setting up an “implementation cell” so they can quickly move ahead on the deal if it is completed.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in a statement said that negotiators have expressed “cautious optimism” about reaching an agreement and called for pressure on Hamas, which has dismissed talk of a truce being close.
Under a plan laid out by Biden on May 31, fighting would stop for an initial six weeks that would be extended as talks take place on a permanent ending, with hostages and prisoners released.
While Biden has cast the deal as coming from Israel, Netanyahu faces intense criticism from far-right allies who keep his government in power.
A ceasefire deal would be a major win for Biden on the week that his Democratic Party will hold its Chicago convention to nominate Vice President Kamala Harris as its candidate.
Pro-Palestinian activists have vowed demonstrations in Chicago, angered at what they see as excessive support for Israel by the Biden administration, which recently approved another $20 billion in arms sales for Israel.
Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an Agence France Presse (AFP) tally of Israeli official figures.
In Hamas-run Gaza, authorities say more than 40,000 people have died, with 15 people from the same family killed in a new airstrike.
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