Ali Mazloum, a Lebanese citizen who was evacuated from Sudan, is greeted by his relatives at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, on April 25, 2023. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
BEIRUT — A third and final group of evacuees from Sudan, where a bloody armed conflict erupted on April 15, arrived in Beirut on Friday afternoon, the state-run National News Agency reported.
The group, consisting of 27 Lebanese nationals, traveled first to Saudi Arabia by boat. Among those who arrived by plane in Beirut on Friday were Lebanese Ambassador to Sudan Dima Haddad and her family, according to the NNA.
"The ministry announces the ending of the evacuation operation," the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued Thursday after the third group arrived in Jeddah.
Several dozen Lebanese, Palestinian and Syrian nationals fleeing the conflict in Sudan arrived in Beirut aboard two flights between Tuesday and Wednesday.
Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said the scale of the evacuation operation was eased by the fact that “a large number of the Lebanese community in Sudan were in Lebanon during the [Easter and Eid al-Fitr] holidays.”
Armed clashes between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have killed hundreds of people since April 15 and forced thousands to flee.