PM Sharif seeks intervention from Lebanese counterpart to evacuate Pakistanis from Syria

Syrian and Lebanese people in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli celebrate on December 9, 2024, after the opposition forces declared that they have taken the Syrian capital in a lightning offensive, sending President Bashar Assad fleeing and ending six decades of his family’s autocratic rule in Syria. (AFP)

• Around 1,200 Pakistanis live in Syria and nearly 140 Pakistani pilgrims are stranded in Sayyidah Zaynab city near Damascus
• Pakistani embassy in Damascus says closure of Syria’s airports, borders with Jordan and Oman pose “major challenge” to repatriation

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday spoke with his Lebanese counterpart Najib Mikati and sought his “personal intervention” to ensure the evacuation through Beirut of Pakistani expats stranded in Syria.
Syrian opposition forces seized the capital of Damascus unopposed on Sunday after a lightning advance that sent President Bashar Assad fleeing to Russia after a 13-year civil war and six decades of his family’s autocratic rule. The shakeup has left over 1,300 Pakistanis stranded in Syria, with the Pakistani foreign office saying on Monday they would be evacuated once the Damascus airport reopened.
“Both leaders exchanged notes on the evolving situation in Syria,” Sharif’s office said in a statement after his telephonic conversation with Mikati.
“Prime Minister sought Mr. Mikati’s personal intervention and support in facilitating immediate evacuation of Pakistani nationals, currently stranded in Syria through Beirut.”
Following the phone call, Sharif also spoke to Pakistan’s ambassadors in Syria and Lebanon and instructed them “to extend all possible assistance and cooperation to the stranded Pakistanis in Syria and facilitate their safe return home,” the PM’s office said.
Earlier in the day, Sharif chaired a meeting on the evacuation of Pakistanis from Syria, directing relevant authorities to formulate a plan of action to move expats from Syria through neighboring countries.
He ordered that an information desk and a helpline be set up to contact Pakistanis at the embassy in Damascus.
“The Crisis Management Unit of the Foreign Office and the information desks in Pakistani embassies in Syria and its neighboring countries should remain active 24 hours a day until the law and order situation improves,” a statement from Sharif’s office after the meeting said. 
Pakistan’s embassy in Syria said on Monday it would accommodate Pakistani nationals at a school run by the mission so they could have a secure place to stay while repatriation flights were arranged. 
Muhammad Nafees, an official at the Pakistani embassy in Damascus, told Arab News Syria’s airports and borders with Jordan and Oman were currently closed, posing a “major challenge” to the repatriation effort.
The official said there were around 1,200 Pakistanis living in Syria, while around 140 Pakistani pilgrims were stranded in the Sayyidah Zaynab city near Damascus.