WNAM REPORT: President Joko Widodo has called for immediate action to help Indonesian citizens flee Lebanon amid escalating attacks from Israel.
During his visit to North Central Timor, East Nusa Tenggara, on Wednesday, Widodo—commonly known as Jokowi—said he had instructed Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi to carry out the evacuations.
“I have ordered the Minister of Foreign Affairs to act on my directives, prioritizing the safety and protection of our citizens and conducting evacuations as quickly as possible,” Jokowi said in an audio recording cited in Jakarta.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had previously held an online meeting with the Indonesian Embassy in Beirut on September 30 to assess the security situation in Lebanon and urge Indonesian nationals to leave the country.
Following Israel’s ground strike in Lebanon on Tuesday, the ministry also called on all parties to avoid taking dangerous actions in light of the worsening situation in the Middle East.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Rolliansyah Soemirat, told on Wednesday that Indonesia strongly supports the United Nations Security Council’s efforts to discuss developments in the Middle East and find ways to reduce tensions in the region.
“Indonesia is very concerned about the potential for a large-scale war,” he said.
On Tuesday morning, Israel launched a ground offensive into Lebanon after conducting air strikes since September 23, which have killed around 1,000 people and injured over 2,700.
In retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah’s long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas political bureau chief Ismael Haniyeh, and senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Abbas Nilforoushan, Iran responded by launching hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel.
