DFA: 11 more Pinoys repatriated from Syria

Eleven more Filipinos were repatriated from strife-torn Syria last Monday, with the efforts of the Philippine embassies in Damascus and Beirut and the International Organization for Migration.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said the 11 were repatriated last September 30 via the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Lebanon.

"At 11:50 a.m., all the 11 Filipinos left via Emirates flight EK 958.  They arrived in Manila on October 1," the DFA said.

It said the cross-border operation, the 35th, started afternoon of September 29, when Vice Consul Dennis John Briones and Assistance to Nationals (ATN) Officer Dexter Macaraig received the 11 Filipinos from the Philippine Embassy in Damascus and IOM-Damascus.

The embassy team helped the at the Lebanese immigration in Masna’a.

Briones and Macaraeg then escorted the group to the Philippine Embassy in Beirut, where the repatriates were received by the Embassy shelter team.

The 11 then proceeded to the airport morning of September 30.

"With the departure of this group of 11 Filipinos, a total of 4,869 Filipinos have been brought home from Syria. Of that number, 1,846 were repatriated through Lebanon," the DFA said.  - ELR, GMA News

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