Pakistani embassy evacuates 100 nationals from Syria via Lebanon border

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (right) chairs a meeting on the evacuations of Pakistani from Syria in Islamabad, Pakistan, on December 9, 2024. (PID/File)

• Over 1,300 Pakistanis were stranded in Syria last week, when Syrian opposition forces seized the capital of Damascus
• Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says the return of Pakistanis stranded in Syria is a ‘matter of concern’ for his government

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s embassy has evacuated 100 Pakistani nationals from Syria through its border with Lebanon, an embassy official said on Tuesday, shortly after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said their return was a “matter of concern” for Islamabad.
More than 1,300 Pakistanis were stranded in Syria last week, when Syrian opposition forces seized the capital of Damascus unopposed following a lightning advance that sent President Bashar Assad fleeing to Russia on Sunday.
Pakistan’s foreign office said these Pakistanis would be evacuated once the Damascus airport reopened, but on Monday, PM Sharif sought his Lebanese counterpart Najib Mikati’s “personal intervention” in evacuating these Pakistani nationals.
“We have evacuated 100 Pakistanis from the Syria-Lebanon border. There are 80 pilgrims and 20 Pakistani residents,” Muhammad Nafees, an official at the Pakistani embassy in Damascus, told Arab News on Tuesday.
“Embassy officials transported them in buses to the Syria-Lebanon border.”
Officials of the Pakistani embassy in Lebanon received these Pakistani nationals at the border, according to Nafees.
“They are returning to Pakistan on two flights” he shared. “The Pakistan embassy in Syria is working to evacuate all remaining Pakistanis within a couple of days.”
The development came shortly after PM Sharif said around 250 Pakistani pilgrims had recently gone to Syria.
“The pilgrims and other Pakistani teachers and students, their return is a matter of concern and we have to rapidly make arrangements,” the premier said in televised comments after a meeting of his cabinet.
“Apart from the 250 pilgrims, 300 more Pakistanis want to go back to Pakistan. We are concerned about this and have to do arrangements.”
Sharif said the Lebanese premier had assured him of helping Pakistan evacuate its nationals in their telephonic conversation on Monday.
“He said ‘it doesn’t matter if there are visas or not, we will look after them and you should begin the process’,” the Pakistan premier said.
Pakistan’s embassy earlier said Syria’s airports and borders with Jordan and Oman were currently closed, posing a “major challenge” to the repatriation effort.
The embassy said 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.