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BEIRUT / ISTANBUL —Hundreds of Turkish citizens seeking refuge from Israel's attacks on the armed group Hezbollah were evacuated from Lebanon Thursday on board two Turkish naval ships.
The two vessels - the TCG Sancaktar and TCG Bayraktar - also delivered 300 tons of humanitarian aid, including food, blankets and tents, upon arrival at Beirut's port on Wednesday.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the ships are carrying 878 Turkish citizens, 24 Turkish Cypriots from northern Cyprus and 64 of their first-degree relatives.
The Turkish ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Baris Ulusoy, told Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency on Wednesday that about 13,000 to 14,000 Turkish citizens live in Lebanon and that 2,000 Turkish citizens had applied for the latest evacuation.
"Our country will continue to extend a helping hand to the people of the region in the face of the humanitarian crisis created by the war spread by Israel in the region and will continue to take every step to protect the life and property of its citizens abroad," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan wrote on social media platform X.
Fidan noted that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave the evacuation order.
After a period of relative calm, Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel following Hamas' October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border and leading to the current escalation.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah recently intensified, with Israel launching a ground operation in south Lebanon and bombing Beirut's southern suburbs.
Eyup Sabri Kirgiz, a Turkish engineer who has lived in Lebanon since 2003, was among the Turkish citizens who waited at the Beirut port to be evacuated. Kirgiz said that Lebanon was never calm but that it was manageable until the recent escalation.
"Where we live is close to the area that was bombed. Each time a bomb was dropped, the house shook, the windows opened and the doors made noise. I have two children, my wife and mother-in-law. So, we could not stand it anymore," Kirgiz told VOA's Turkish Service before boarding one of the ships in Beirut with his family, two dogs and a turtle.
"There is nowhere else to go. For instance, if you go somewhere else, the rent is four or five times higher than it used to be, and they also ask for four or five months of rent up front. Lebanon is already in crisis. Thank God, our state has taken care of us," Kirgiz said.
Kirgiz also said that he and his family want to return to Lebanon when things get better.
"My job and everything are here," he said. "My children were born here. They grew up here. So, they feel like they are half Lebanese and half Turkish."
Several people with dual Lebanese and Turkish citizenship were among the evacuees.
Maya, a 20-year-old Lebanese Turkish woman who did not give her surname, was waiting with her family to board the ship and said she is grateful to Turkey for taking its citizens out of Lebanon.
"We were living under great pressure and in difficult conditions. We have to leave our university and our home in Lebanon and go to Turkey," Maya told VOA's Turkish Service.
"There was so much bombardment, it was absolutely impossible to sleep because of the noise. Thank God, nothing happened to our house," she said, adding that she and her family aim to return to Lebanon when the situation calms down.
Turkey's Ministry of National Defense announced that the ships are expected to reach port in Turkey's southern Mersin province on Thursday. The voyage on the Mediterranean Sea is expected to take about 12 hours.
In a statement shared on X, the ministry also noted that two frigates and two patrol ships will escort the naval ships for protection.
A source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Turkey is collecting the names of its citizens who want to leave Lebanon for further evacuation efforts. According to the Turkish Embassy in Lebanon, Ankara is also planning to organize a limited number of charter flights from Beirut to Istanbul or Adana.
Hundreds of people of different nationalities have fled Lebanon through a commercial ferry line that operates twice a week from Tripoli port to Turkey's Tasucu port in southern Mersin province.
The United States also has evacuated more than 1,000 U.S. citizens and their dependents via U.S.-chartered flights arriving in Turkey.
In an interview in Istanbul, U.S. Consul General Julie Eadeh said, "It's the fastest, safest way to get Americans out of harm's way.
"The security situation is dynamic, so we have been planning for months for all contingencies. Given the airport in Beirut remains operational and open, our focus is on facilitating departures by air," Eadeh said.
According to another U.S. official, reported by the Reuters news agency, 10 of 12 U.S. chartered flights from Beirut have arrived in Istanbul carrying 1,025 citizens and immediate family members since October 2.
Reuters also reported that U.S. citizens and those arriving on chartered flights from some other Western countries must continue onward from Turkey within 72 hours of arrival under an agreement with Ankara.
Two other U.S.-chartered flights arrived in Frankfurt, Germany, and Doha, Qatar, and U.S. authorities expect to continue providing such flights for remaining U.S. citizens who wish to leave Lebanon.
This story originated in VOA's Turkish Service.