Australia orders staff to leave Israel and UAE
Australia has ordered all non-essential officials to leave Israel and the United Arab Emirates, two weeks after the US and Israel’s war against Iran gripped the Middle East.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said staff had been directed to leave “due to the deteriorating security situation”.
“Key Australian officials will remain in the country to support Australians in need,” he said in a statement posted on social media on Thursday night.
“We continue to advise Australians not to travel to Israel and the UAE.
“We want you to leave the Middle East if you can and it is safe.”
Senator Wong’s statement came after the government told families of Australian officials in Israel and Lebanon to leave the country in the days before the war broke out on February 28.
Voluntary departures were also offered to the diplomats’ dependents in the UAE, Jordan and Qatar.
The war has killed nearly 2,000 people so far and caused the biggest disruption to global oil supplies in decades.
Oil prices, which fell earlier this week after US President Donald Trump said the war would end soon, rose again above $100 per barrel after Iran’s attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf increased significantly.
Two weeks of conflict has caused thousands of Australians to flee the region, and the government said on Tuesday more than 2600 had returned home on commercial flights.
Senator Wong said the vast majority of Australian citizens who had traveled in the Middle East and were stranded when the war broke out had returned home.
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