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The Australian government has announced that the first group of Australians, stranded due to the escalating conflict in the Middle East, has finally left Dubai. In response to the ongoing crisis, new emergency teams are set to be deployed to the region.
Global airline operations have been severely affected by bombings carried out by the Iranian regime across nine countries. These attacks were in retaliation to weekend strikes by the U.S. and Israel, leading to the closure of airspace over Iran, Iraq, and Israel.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has confirmed that 200 Australians boarded a flight from Dubai to Sydney, which took off on Wednesday morning.
“I want to assure you that we will continue to do all that we can to get Australians home and keep Australians safe,” Wong stated during a press briefing in Canberra.
To support the extensive repatriation efforts, Wong revealed that six crisis response teams will be sent to assist consular staff working in the affected areas.
Speaking to her UAE counterpart overnight, Wong said she had asked for commercial flights to restart but highlighted that the ongoing attacks were making contingency plans “difficult”.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong revealed there are 115,000 Australians in the region, with at least 24,000 located in Dubai. This includes expats or people transiting through.
“This is a consular crisis that dwarfs any Australia … has had to deal with in terms of numbers of people,” she told ABC’s RN.
Following strikes in the region on Sunday, Smartraveller updated its advice, urging Australians not to travel to Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar or the United Arab Emirates.
It continues to advise Australians not to travel to Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Syria or Yemen.
A limited number of airlines have resumed operations for stuck travellers, with Wong stressing commercial flights were the best avenue to leave the region.
“That volume of traffic will really need to see commercial flights resume, even if only sporadically, to get people home,” she said.
“Obviously given that the hubs are being attacked, this has made this crisis much more difficult for everyone to navigate, and we’re very conscious of how distressing this is,” she said.
Wong expressed her gratitude to Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed for the “friendship of the UAE people” during the time of crisis.
The same sentiments were echoed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during his call with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan overnight.
The pair discussed the volatile situation in the Middle East and the importance of resuming commercial flights as soon as possible.
Wong says troops won’t be deployed
Wong said that while the government continues to engage with countries in the region, it is not deploying military assistance.
“We’re not considering sending Australian troops,” she said on Wednesday afternoon.
Wong spoke hours after a speech by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Sydney, during which he revised his position towards US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Carney conceded they may break international law, calling it a “failure of the international order” as he urged a “rapid de-escalation in hostilities”.
“It appears that these actions are inconsistent with international law,” he said, adding that it was up to the US and Israel to determine the legality.
Under the United Nations charter, which governs the US as a founding member state, the use of military force is justified under self-defence if a country is under attack, or if the United Nations Security Council has authorised it.
The US and Israel have argued that their attacks on Iran are to prevent the country from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Wong continued to avoid questions about the legality of US-Israeli strikes on Iran, dubbed Operation Epic Fury.
“I have made clear that this is a matter for Israel and the US, the legal basis for those two parties to respond,” she said.
She previously highlighted Iran’s failure to comply with UN Security Council resolutions over its nuclear program.
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