Philippines repatriates Filipinos from Lebanon as fighting intensifies. Photo from Department of Migrant Workers/Facebook

MANILA — Philippine authorities have repatriated Filipinos and will continue evacuations from Lebanon as fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces intensifies.

On Saturday, the Philippine Embassy in Lebanon urged all Filipinos in the country to evacuate due to rising tensions, placing Lebanon under Alert Level 3, which allows for voluntary repatriation.

Speaking on TeleRadyo Serbisyo, Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said 13 overseas Filipino workers, as well as three children, were repatriated from Lebanon on Saturday.

DMW said the Filipinos were repatriated in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. 

Some 45 Filipinos in Lebanon are also expected to arrive in the Philippines next week, he said.

Aside from repatriations, Cacdac said they are conducting "onsite monitoring" and are coordinating with the Filipino community in Lebanon for evacuation efforts within the country.

He said shelters are available for Filipinos there.

Around 300 Filipinos have asked for assistance for repatriation in the past few months, Cacdac said.

He urged Filipinos who want to leave Lebanon to call their hotlines:

For OFWs (documented or undocumented): +961 79110729

For OFs (Dependents with Permanent Resident Status, i.e., wife iqama): +961 70858086

READ: Filipinos urged to evacuate Lebanon amid escalating tensions

DEATH TOLL RISES

The Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli air strike on the south on Saturday killed 10 Syrians, as the Israeli military reported hitting weapons stores of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.

The death toll from the strike in the Wadi al-Kafur area of Nabatieh is one of the heaviest since Hezbollah began exchanging near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces after the Gaza war erupted last October.

Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators have been trying to broker a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, which diplomats say could help to avert a wider war in which Lebanon would be on the front line.

The cross-border violence has killed 581 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but including at least 128 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, 22 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, according to army figures. —with Agence France-Presse

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