A further 400 Dutch citizens are expected to be evacuated yesterday from
Lebanon, which has been under attack from Israel over the past eight days, Radio
Netherlands reported yesterday.
Ten buses will take the Dutch nationals to Aleppo, Syria's second largest
city, according to Beirut's Dutch embassy, which is helping to repatriate the
nationals.
A Dutch air force plane and two charter planes are waiting at Aleppo airport
to fly them back to the Netherlands, the report said.
Around 300 Dutch citizens had fled Lebanon by the same route and had returned
home on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Radio Netherlands reported that Dutch expatriates who had fled
Lebanon back to Holland would be temporarily housed in centers for former asylum
seekers.
The first group of 250 expatriates will stay in a recently vacated center in
the central Dutch city of Almere.
Israel began a campaign of air attacks and shelling on July 12 in retaliation
to the kidnapping of its soldiers and rocket attacks by the Lebanese Hezbollah
group on Israel.
A number of countries including France and the United States have mounted
evacuation operations.
Dutch airline KLM has suspended all flights to and from
Beirut.
