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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| 4 Indian warships to dock at Beirut for evacuation |
| 2006-07-19 |
| Four Indian Navy warships will dock at Beirut on Wednesday morning to help, if required, in the evacuation of the estimated 12,000 Indians living in the country, facing the brunt of Israeli ground and air strikes after the Shia Islamic Hezbollah movement abducted two Israeli soldiers on July 12. The four warships - destroyer INS Mumbai, guided missile frigates INS Brahmaputra and INS Betwa, and auxiliary fleet tanker INS Shakti - were "exiting" the Suez Canal after a successful overseas deployment mission when they were asked to "turn back" and head for the Lebanese coast. "Evacuation, of course, is voluntary. It will depend on the people (many of whom work in olive plantations) who want to leave Lebanon. If the number is around 800-1,000, then our warships can bring them all the way back to India," said the officer. "But if the numbers are large, then the warships will run shuttle services to nearby ports like Larnaca in Cyprus," he added. |
| Posted by:john |
| #12 When Saddam invaded Kuwait, India evacuated 150 000 of its citizens from Kuwait, Saudi and Iraq. |
| Posted by: john 2006-07-19 18:37 |
| #11 Nimble: might be doable if it's for a short hop to Cyprus. Hanging over the bow of the ship might get hairy for a long trip back to India... |
| Posted by: sludge 2006-07-19 15:22 |
| #10 Wonder if they'll load those Indian naval vessels the way they do trains. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-07-19 15:08 |
| #9 As a result of the trouble that Lebanon has been experiencing since the early 90's, there is a tremendous amount of expatriot Lebanese, professional and business, spread throughtout the West and have aquired dual citizenship . Many of these folks or their families have returned over recent years as temporary residents or visitors. All of a sudden thousands want to leave. Canada alone is looking at 25000 to 40000 |
| Posted by: john 2006-07-19 14:52 |
| #8 Not first time LH, but got there pretty damn quick. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-07-19 14:23 |
| #7 first time Indian Navy has entered the Med? longer term implications? |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-07-19 10:03 |
| #6 Lol, sludge, I was just funnin' with you - you're probably correct in your speculation as they do export almost anyone who's 98.6 and, more or less, willing to work abroad. I wouldn't be surprised if there was one very lonely Esquimeaux somewhere in there, too. :) |
| Posted by: Ebbock Hupoling3283 2006-07-19 08:51 |
| #5 Cheap labor, sending remittences home. There are Indians all over Saudi and the Gulf States, and the sheikhs go to Lebanon to play, so I'm not too surprised some Indians found their way here, too. |
| Posted by: Rory B. Bellows 2006-07-19 08:35 |
| #4 well, thanks for blowing my crazy logic to bits... but then again, there just might be that many chinese there. |
| Posted by: sludge 2006-07-19 08:31 |
| #3 So we can expect to find, what, 14-15,000 Chinese there? :) |
| Posted by: Ebbock Hupoling3283 2006-07-19 08:17 |
| #2 well, since one-sixth of the world is indian, it's likely they are just everywhere, even Lebanon. |
| Posted by: sludge 2006-07-19 08:11 |
| #1 12,000 Indians?? I can understand that most of the 25,000 US passport holders are really Lebanese, but what are so many Indians doing there? Surely Lebanon can provide its own doctors and computer programmers, and unskilled labourers! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-07-19 07:56 |