The Brazilian authorities announced on Tuesday that four more flights of
the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) would be available soon to rescue citizens from
the conflict area in the Middle East.
The first plane will take off on Wednesday from Adana, Turkey, with 150 seats
available for Brazilians who left Lebanon and wish to return to Brazil. On
Friday, another plane will land in Damascus, Syria, to evacuate 70 other
citizens.
There will be two other flights leaving from Adana, respectively on Saturday
and next Monday, but the last one is still to be confirmed by the government.
On Tuesday, another FAB's aircraft arrived in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest
city, bringing 77 people from Adana. Four Argentine and 11 Lebanese citizens
were also among the passengers.
That was the eighth flight from the Middle East since the start of the
operation, in the middle of July, to evacuate Brazilian nationals in Lebanon.
Commercial airlines are also participating in the mission as volunteers. One
flight of Taxi Aereo Marilia, an airline company based in Brazil, is expected to
arrive in Brazil this week.
According to Brazil's Foreign Ministry, the operation has rescued 1,276
people since its beginning and 673 are expected to return to Brazil in the next
few days.
