Scores of Lebanese Flee Libya Violence Via Amman, Urge for Help

Scores of Lebanese returned home from strife-torn Libya via Jordan on Sunday, urging Beirut authorities to facilitate the evacuation of other Lebanese citizens there, said the state-run National News Agency.

The Lebanese came aboard a Jordanian plane along with several members of their family holding Libyan passports, said NNA.

On Friday, an official at Middle East Airlines, Lebanon's flag carrier, said Libyan authorities had refused to allow one of their planes to land.

The plane was intended to evacuate between 60 and 100 Lebanese nationals stranded at the airport in the Libyan capital.

Tens of thousands of foreigners have so far fled Libya by air, land and sea as world governments scrambled to pull their citizens out amid escalating violence.

“The situation of the Lebanese there is tragic,” said Mustafa al-Hassan, 50, upon arriving at Rafik Hariri international airport.

He accused head of the Lebanese diplomatic mission in Libya, Nazih Ashour, of neglect. “We didn’t feel he wanted to cooperate with us.”

Another passenger, Iman Hadraj who is married to a Libyan, said: “There are a lot of Lebanese waiting to be transported to Tripoli’s airport in order to come to Lebanon.”