Thousands of foreigners have fled the country as Israel-Hezbollah conflict escalates AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s government has evacuated the majority of its diplomatic mission in Lebanon and began airlifting the first group of stranded Yemenis out of the Lebanese capital, an official told Arab News on Sunday. A group of eight Yemenis flew from Beirut to Amman on Middle East Airlines over the weekend, returning home on Yemenia Airways. This came as the Yemeni ambassador to Lebanon and several members of Yemen’s diplomatic mission in the Lebanese capital left the country, leaving behind Yemen’s consular and administrative officer. The official said the Yemeni government is arranging for the evacuation of 33 Yemenis from Lebanon who have registered at the Yemen Embassy in Beirut. Thousands of foreigners fled Lebanon in recent months as the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah escalated. The Yemeni Embassy in Beirut asked Yemenis who wanted to leave the country to register their names at the embassy before directing them to travel to Syria by land after failing to secure a flight to get them out. Yemenis there rejected the embassy’s proposal to travel to Syria by land, citing security concerns, and demanded that the Yemeni government evacuate them by air, just like other citizens. Mushtaq Anaam, a postgraduate Yemeni student living in Beirut’s Cola neighborhood who in the past petitioned the Yemeni government to evacuate him from Lebanon, told Arab News that he changed his mind about leaving the country after discovering a safer place in Lebanon’s far north, and that he is concerned about missing classes if he returns to Yemen and his university in Lebanon reopens. “I have six months remaining to finish my studies. Instead of going to Yemen and paying $800 or $1,000 to return to Lebanon, I chose to stay here and leave Beirut for a safer area in the north,” Anaam said.