Emergency planning in Beirut: Smartraveller, go-bags and getting out

If you live in Beirut on an Australian passport, an emergency plan isn't paranoia. It's part of the rent.

The short version

• Smartraveller's advice for Lebanon is Do not travel, its highest level, because of the volatile security situation, armed conflict, civil unrest and terrorism. It raised Lebanon to this level on 28 February, and says levels can change at short notice [1].
• At this level, consular help is limited, your travel insurance may not cover you, and the government won't pay your medical or evacuation bills [1].
• Smartraveller's current instruction is to leave while commercial flights are available if it's safe to reach the airport, and otherwise to shelter in place with supplies [1].
• In October 2024, the Australian Government ran 18 assisted-departure flights that took 3,170 citizens, permanent residents and family members out of Beirut via Cyprus [3][4]. Don't build your plan around that happening again.
• The plan that works: subscribe to alerts, keep passports current, pack a go-bag, hold cash, and know two routes to the airport.

What "Do not travel" means if you already live here

Most Australians in Lebanon aren't tourists. DFAT estimates about 15,000 Australians normally live there, with several thousand more each summer, and more than 248,000 people in Australia reported Lebanese ancestry at the 2021 census [5]. For many readers, Beirut is where the parents, the cousins and the family flat are.

The advice still applies to you. Here's what it changes in practice.

Insurance, honestly

Smartraveller is blunt: "If you can't afford travel insurance, you shouldn't travel." [1] The catch for Beirut residents is that ordinary Australian travel policies are built for holidays, and many exclude war, civil unrest or any country under Do not travel. If you're living there long term, look at international health or expat policies that name Lebanon, and ask in writing:

1. Does the policy cover Lebanon while Smartraveller says Do not travel?
2. Are injuries from war, terrorism or civil unrest excluded?
3. Is medical evacuation covered, and to where?
4. Does it cover you as a resident, not just a visitor?

Keep the insurer's emergency number and your policy number on paper as well as in your phone. Our healthcare in Beirut guide covers hospitals and paying up front.

Get on the lists before you need them

Subscribe to Smartraveller

Subscribe to updates for Lebanon on the Smartraveller page so any change to the level, or a "leave now" message, reaches your inbox [1]. Do it for every adult in the family, including the Australian-born kids who are now grown up and living with Teta.

Save the numbers

Write these on a card that lives in your wallet. Phones die when the generator does.

Know about the Crisis Portal

When the government ran assisted departures in 2024, Australians registered their interest through DFAT's Crisis Portal or by phoning the Consular Emergency Centre [3]. The portal is activated during a crisis, so you can't sign up in advance. Know that it exists, and have everyone's passport numbers and dates of birth in one place so registration takes two minutes, not twenty.

Build the go-bag and the document kit

Smartraveller's shelter-in-place list is short: enough food, water and medicine, a radio, torches and batteries, and your identity documents handy [1]. In Beirut, where power and water already depend on generators and tanks, we'd extend it.

The go-bag (one per person)

1. Passports, Australian and Lebanese, in a waterproof pouch. Check every expiry date now, especially the kids'.
2. Cash in US dollars, in small notes. Smartraveller notes ATMs have daily limits and high fees [1], and in a crisis they may not work at all.
3. At least a week of prescription medicine, with a copy of the prescription and a doctor's letter. Smartraveller warns shortages can happen without notice [1].
4. A charged power bank, a cable and a battery torch.
5. Water, snacks and a change of clothes.
6. A paper list of phone numbers: the embassy, your insurer, family in Australia, and a driver you trust.

The document kit

Scan these to a cloud account you can open from any phone, and keep a printed copy in the go-bag:

• Birth certificates, Australian citizenship certificates and any Lebanese civil registry extracts (ikhraj qaid)
• Marriage certificate and custody orders, if relevant
• Insurance policy and emergency contact
• Residence permit, if you're not Lebanese
• Vaccination records, and pet microchip and rabies papers if a pet would come with you

If you're a parent, check custody first. Smartraveller reports that Lebanese authorities have stopped Australians, including mothers with children, from leaving because of family court matters, and that Australia can't prevent or overturn these "stop orders" [1]. A go-bag is no use if you can't board.

Getting out: how it has worked in practice

2024: the assisted departures

On 4 October 2024 the Foreign Minister announced two government-supported charter flights from Beirut to Larnaca in Cyprus, carrying up to 500 passengers, free for Australian citizens, permanent residents and immediate family with a right of entry to Australia. Vulnerable passengers were prioritised, and Qantas flew people on from Cyprus to Sydney [3]. Over the next nine days the government ran 18 flights, and 3,170 people left [4].

Three lessons from that operation:

1. It depended on the airport staying open. The government said so at the time [3]. If Rafic Hariri International closes, the options shrink fast.
2. It ended. When the flights stopped, DFAT's message was that commercial flights were still running and people should take the first one available [4].
3. Eligibility was about paperwork. A spouse without a visa or right of entry to Australia was a harder case. Sort partner and child visas well before a crisis.

2006

In 2006 the government also organised mass evacuations of Australians from Lebanon. Plenty of Lebanese-Australian families still talk about that summer, and the lesson they pass on is the same: the people with current passports and a bag ready got out first. Our Lebanese-Australians guide has more on that history.

Your own plan, in order

1. Commercial flight first. When tension rises, book early. Smartraveller says leave while flights are available [1]. A changeable fare is cheaper than being stuck.
2. Two routes to the airport. The direct road runs past Dahiyeh, which Smartraveller says not to visit [1]. Know an alternative and leave plenty of time, because roads can be blocked during violence [1].
3. Shelter in place if moving is unsafe. Stock the flat with water, food, medicine and fuel for the generator if your building allows it.
4. Land borders aren't a back door. The only land borders are with Syria and Israel. Smartraveller says crossings from Syria may close at short notice [1], and Syria has its own, separate travel advice. Check it before you even consider that route.
5. Tell people where you are. One family member in Australia should hold your plan and copies of your documents.

Living with it

None of this means living in fear. Beirut residents are expert at getting on with life between the bad weeks. It just means the boring tasks (passports, insurance, a bag by the door) are done before the news turns.

Swap notes with people who've been through it. Join Cooee Lebanon, our Facebook group for Australians in Lebanon, and ask what members keep in their go-bags and which airline seats went first last time.

For the general rules on what consular staff can and can't do anywhere, see our consular help guide. This guide is the Beirut-specific version.

Sources

1. Lebanon travel advice – Smartraveller (DFAT)
2. Australian Embassy, Lebanon
3. Assisted departure flights for Australians in Lebanon – Minister for Foreign Affairs, 4 October 2024
4. Final Australian mercy flight leaves Lebanon – InDaily, 14 October 2024
5. Lebanon country brief – Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
6. Volunteer-based emergency medical services in Lebanon – IFRC

Keep reading

• Healthcare in Beirut: private hospitals, upfront payment and insurance
• Lebanese-Australians: passports, family and staying connected
• Moving to Beirut from Australia: the complete guide
• Consular help and Smartraveller for Australians abroad