Australian expats in the Middle East urged to leave the region before commercial flights ‘dry up’

Australian expats in the Middle East have been urged to leave the region on commercial flights before they “dry up”.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the majority of Aussie travellers who were “caught in transit” from the war breaking out a fortnight ago have returned home.

She expressed fresh concerns for expats who were yet to leave the region as the conflict continues and draws in more nations.

Senator Wong used a press conference in Canberra on Thursday to issue a message directly to those citizens, pleading “please do not wait until it is too late”.

“I would speak to the Australians who do live, the expats who live in the Middle East - our view, our advice, is if you can secure a seat on a commercial flight, you should take it,” she said.

“If you can secure a seat, we believe people should be leaving.

“We don’t want to see a situation where commercial flights which are operating, but obviously on a limited schedule, where they dry up.

“We hope that will not happen. But don’t leave it too late.”

At least 3600 Aussies have taken seats on 25 commercial flights which have returned from the war-torn region.

The efforts include a flight from Doha to Melbourne this morning after Qatar reopened their services to Australia.

It was one of three flights scheduled to arrive in Australia from UAE and Qatar on Thursday morning, including EK406 from Dubai to Melbourne and EK412 from Dubai to Sydney.

Three flights to Perth, Melbourne and Sydney were also expected to depart Dubai on Thursday.

The families of Australian diplomats have been ordered by the Federal Government to evacuate the United Arab Emirates on Monday due to the “deteriorating security situation.”

Since the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on February 28, the Iranian regime has hit back with retaliatory action across at least 12 countries.

On Thursday, Senator Wong also confirmed that several Australian diplomatic missions in the Middle East, which included Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Tel Aviv, have physically closed in the last week due to the escalating conflict.

NEED TO KNOW

Smartraveller has maintained its “do not travel” warning for Australians to Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, the UAE and Yemen.

Australians should reconsider the need to travel to Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia and exercise a high degree of caution in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Egypt and Turkey.

Australians in need of emergency consular assistance should contact the Australian Government 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre: +61 2 6261 3305 from overseas 1300 555 135 in Australia.