Extract from ABC News
Passengers aboard first charter flight arrive in Cyprus from Lebanon.
In short:
Up to 500 Australian citizens, residents and their family members arrived in Cyprus on flights from Beirut on Saturday.
The federal government says two more evacuation flights are planned out of Beirut on Sunday.
What's next?
Qantas will fly the passengers to Sydney next week.
The first flight lands in Cyprus from Lebanon on Saturday.
It was a bittersweet departure for many, who expressed relief to be going but concern for the people they left behind.
"I feel so lucky that I'm back," one young woman said as she got on to a bus taking the passengers from the plane to a nearby military barracks where they were to stay until Qantas flights arrived to take them back to Australia.
The first of the Qantas flights is expected on Monday.
Ikhlas Estephan was travelling with her husband and three children.
Ikhlas Estephan said it was a relief to get out of Beirut after multiple commercial flight cancellations. (ABC News: Natalie Whiting)
"As soon as I saw Aussies, I became emotional," she said.
It was still "a relief" to be able to get out after multiple commercial flight cancellations, following a trip to visit their family.
"It was really stressful," she sighed.
While the strikes on Beirut were coming on a "daily basis", Ms Estephan said where she was in the city's north was a safer area, but it was still "difficult" to leave their extended family behind.
An older woman, who didn't want to give her name, smiled as she said she felt "tired".
This woman, who did not provide her name, was happy to be travelling to her daughters in Australia. (ABC News: Natalie Whiting)
"I'm very sad," she said, putting a hand over her heart.
"I'm [appreciative] to Australia, as always, for being next to us."
She lives in Lebanon but has two daughters in Australia and said she was "relieved" to be going to them.
One man raised concerns about a lack of "concrete information" from the government about the charter flights and said he had organised for his daughter to fly to Iraq because he couldn't get a guarantee of another exit for her.
He was then able to get on the charter to Cyprus.
"She had to fly into Iraq, and her flight from Iraq to Dubai was cancelled, so she was [going to be] stuck there for five days, so I had to arrange alternative transport for her."
Australia's High Commissioner to Cyprus Fiona McKergow said the government has been working on departure plans since the conflict started a year ago.
Fiona McKergow said the federal government had been working on departure plans since the conflict started a year ago. (ABC News: Natalie Whiting)
"We realise it's a very stressful time for Australians and their families in Lebanon and we've been working to assist those wanting to leave to depart Lebanon," she said.
"We've been working very closely with — and welcome the cooperation we've had from — the Republic of Cyprus."
The Mediterranean Island is regularly used as a transit point during crisis in the Middle East and is only a 40-minute flight from Lebanon.
Other people fleeing the war have been arriving on the island on private boats.
More than 20 countries sent representatives to Cyprus after the conflict in the Middle East started, as part of early preparations for potential evacuations.
Cyprus foreign affairs spokesman Theodoros Gotsis. (Supplied)
"For countries that are far away from our region, it's very important to have this partnership and this co-operation," the country's foreign affairs spokesman, Theodoros Gotsis, said.
The country is prepared to scale up its operations but is urging de-escalation.
"Our overall plan – based on the experience of 2006 where we had evacuated from Lebanon some 60,000 people in three months – we focus on having the installations needed," he said.
"The accommodation we can offer is up to 7,000 people at any given time, but having people coming in and coming out, this number is actually maximised."
Georgette Douglis held back tears while speaking about leaving Lebanon.
Georgette Douglis said she felt lucky to be Australian. (ABC News: Natalie Whiting)
"I miss my family, I want to go back home," she smiled sadly.
"But it's great what the Australian government do for us, I went to Lebanon to see my family, I didn't know that this would happen.
"We're so lucky to be Australian."
Several people expressed surprise at the speed of the escalation of the war.
Ms Douglis said she would be praying for her family, because "there's nothing else we can do".
Another woman who was travelling with her two daughters said her house had been destroyed about a week ago in an air strike, but she was smiling to be in Cyprus.
"I'm feeling awesome, because I'm feeling safe," she said.
"Safety is the most important feeling in the world, it's more important than feeling freedom."
She was travelling with her two daughters. The youngest, Annabella, smiled and said: "Thank you, Australia."
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