DFA: 28 more Pinoys repatriated from war-torn Syria

MANILA, Philippines - Another group of 28 Filipinos crossed the border of Syria and Lebanon and were repatriated to the Philippines on Thursday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

The Filipinos left Beirut via the Rafik Hariri International Airport at 1:40 p.m. (Beirut time) on board Gulf Air flight GF 910.

Vice Consul Dennis John Briones and information officer Edwin Batallones of the Philippine embassy in Beirut received the group at the Masna’a border, with the assistance of Caritas staff Jeanne d’Arc Hobeika.

After being granted transit visas by Lebanese immigration authorities, they entered Lebanon and were brought directly to the embassy.

Embassy officials escorted the repatriates to the airport and assisted the group as they underwent formalities at the Rafik Hariri International Airport.

All boarded the flight to Manila via Manama, Bahrain and arrived in Manila on Friday morning on board GF 154.

A total of 4,821 Filipinos have been brought home from Syria, with 1,799 repatriated via the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut since the first cross-border operations jointly undertaken by the Philippine embassies in Syria and Lebanon began in December 2012.