Lebanese travel agents describe chaos amid surge in demand for tickets out of Beirut

Iraqi Airways is latest airline to suspend flights to and from Lebanon until further notice

An explosion in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, during an Israeli air strike on Saturday, September 28. AP Photo

Rockets from Israel's Iron Dome air defence system over the city of Haifa on Friday September 27. Reuters

An early morning Israeli attack in south Beirut on September 28. AP Photo

Beirut residents flee the southern suburbs and gather in Martyrs' Square. EPA

Smoke is seen following strikes over Beirut's southern suburbs. Reuters

Smoke over south Beirut as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon, on September 28. Reuters

An Iranian demonstrator listens to news from Beirut during a gathering in support of Hezbollah at Felestin (Palestine) Square in Tehran on September 28. AP Photo

Ruins of a building in Dahieh, Beirut, on September 27 after what Israel called 'a precise strike on the central headquarters of the Hezbollah'. EPA

Israeli air defences in Upper Galilee, northern Israel, respond to rocket fire from southern Lebanon on September 27. EPA

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Ambulances attend to the injured following an Israel strike in Dahieh, south Beirut, on September 27. EPA

Lebanese forced from their homes on September 28 gather at Beirut's Martyrs' Square as Israel attacks the southern suburbs. Reuters

South Beirut as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon, on September 28. Reuters

An ambulance carries injured following an Israel strike in Dahieh, Beirut. EPA

Members of a family who fled Israeli bombardment on Beirut's southern suburbs with some of their belongings in Martyrs Square in the centre of the Lebanese capital on September 28. AFP

Lebanese citizens watch smoke rise from Israeli air strikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut. AP Photo

Residents check the damaged in the aftermath of overnight Israeli bombardment in Beirut's southern suburbs, on September 28. Israel claimed its warplanes targeted Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. AFP

Beirut's southern suburbs after a night of Israeli attacks. AFP

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. AP Photo

Smoke rises from Israeli air strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs. AP Photo

A car sits in a crater in Beirut's southern suburbs. AP Photo

Intensified Israeli air strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon have created a surge in people desperate to leave the increasingly dangerous areas. Trapped in an escalating conflict, thousands of residents are struggling to flee the violence, which has already claimed more than 700 lives and left more than 100,000 displaced.

The strikes, which have obliterated infrastructure and disrupted communications, have prompted around 118,000 people to move to safer areas, despite diminishing options. The air strikes follow previous Israeli attacks in which thousands of pagers and walkie talkies owned by Hezbollah blew up, killing dozens and injuring thousands.

Limited routes

Mira Ali, a travel agent in Beirut told The National that she is working around the clock to get tickets for customers fleeing the conflict as well as those trapped outside the country.

“It is chaos,” Ms Ali said. “I have many people calling me to get them a ticket out of Beirut and I can’t accommodate them as all airlines suspended their flights. The only operating airline now is Middle East. I also have customers trapped in Turkey. They were away on vacation or for a business trip."

An alternative option, said Ms Ali, was to cross the land border to Syria, or to head to the port in Tripoli to book a ferry to Mersin in Turkey. “There are boats to either Turkey or Cyprus. People who want to go to Cyprus need to have a visa while people going to Turkey can get a visa on arrival,” she added.

Iraqi Airways was the latest airline to suspend flights to Lebanon until further notice, stating on social media that the cancellation of the route was due to the "deteriorating situation in Lebanon".

Meanwhile, the UK Foreign Office told British citizens still in Lebanon to “leave now”, while on Saturday the European Commission and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued conflict zone information bulletins (CZIBs), recommending that airlines avoid operating within the airspaces of Lebanon and Israel “at all flight levels”.

Fully booked

Christel Majdalani, director of the Nakhal travel agency, said she was also feeling a sense of panic from customers. “There is a sort of panic as many people want to travel outside Lebanon. We have many customers calling for tickets but it's fully booked on Middle East [Airlines] from Beirut to Dubai until October 10,” Ms Majdalani said.

The agency also has customers trapped outside Lebanon who will have to wait for tickets to become available so they can return. “We have customers in Turkey and other countries with booked tickets but many airlines suspended flights. We managed to make a booking for them but they have to wait for a couple of days. The amount of people who want to leave Lebanon is more than the people who want to return.”

Ms Majdalani explained that the agency is arranging buses from Beirut to Amman to transport passengers, with tickets priced at $125, according to the company's instagram account. “We started the route [on Friday]. We have one bus every day and are planning to have more."

'I don't know what to do'

Reema Khalil, a 40-year-old single mother of two, is among those looking to leave, in her case to stay with her sister in Turkey.

“It is terrifying,” she told The National. “I’m staying in my apartment in Beirut with my two kids and don’t know what to do. I want to leave the country and go to Turkey but couldn’t get a ticket. My children are 11 and nine and they are scared from the sounds of bombing.”

Ms Khalil, who works as auditor, said she knew people willing to leave through land borders to Syria and then travel to other countries. “I don’t know if I can financially afford to stay outside Lebanon for a long time as we don’t know when all of this will end.

I’m afraid to leave and be trapped outside my country because then I will lose my job,” she added. “My only option is to go to a safer area in Lebanon, but I don’t know where to go.”

On Saturday, Hezbollah confirmed the death of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, hours after Israel announced it had killed him in an air strike in Beirut on Friday. Meanwhile, Ettie Higgins, Unicef's deputy representative in Lebanon, said “thousands and thousands” of people had fled southern Beirut, and hospitals were “overwhelmed”.

Mahmoud Ahmed, a 48-year-old Lebanese man who arrived in Dubai last week on a visitor visa, said he was planning to stay for 10 days but doesn’t know how he will manage to get back.

“People in Lebanon are seeing things being escalated and some left a couple of days ago. I came for a short business trip but don’t know what I should do now,” Mr Ahmed told The National.

“Middle East Airlines is still operating flights from Dubai to Beirut but I don’t know if it will be cancelled in the coming days. I’m a bit confused about whether to stay or return."

He said the recent conflict reminded him of the 34-day war in Lebanon, northern Israel and the Golan Heights in 2006, during which he left Lebanon to go to Jordan for safety. “In that time, we reached my aunt's house in Jordan after 16 hours of travelling through land borders,” he added. “People now can only escape via Syria, or the lucky ones might get a flight ticket.”

Watch: Beirut residents flee homes and spend night in the open