MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian Air Force flight from Lebanon lands in São Paulo

The aircraft was to take off back to Beirut with a new crew to bring donations and airlift back the second batch of evacuees

A Brazilian Air Force (FAB) aircraft landed at the São Paulo Air Base in Guarulhos at 10.25 am on Sunday carrying 229 Brazilian nationals who had been evacuated from war-torn Lebanon, in addition to 3 pets, Agencia Brasil reported.

The KC-30 aircraft (the military denomination for an Airbus A-330) was to go back straight to pick up the second batch. FAB Chief Marcelo Kanitz Damasceno said the goal of Operation Cedar Roots was to repatriate around 500 Brazilians a week. The new mission is due back in Brazil on Tuesday morning.

“Brazil is a generous country and has no disputes with any country in the world because we don't want war. War only destroys. What builds is peace,” said President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva upon welcoming the evacuees.

The aircraft left Lebanon on Saturday at 1:18 pm (Brasília time) and made a stop in Portugal to refuel. It then took off again at 11:56 p.m. from Lisbon on its way to South America.

Of the some 20,000 Brazilians believed to be living in Lebanon, around 3,000 of them have approached diplomatic authorities to ask for help as the military operations by the Israeli Armed Forces intensified. In Lula's view, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to stay in power by launching these military offensives against Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“You know that we had a very hard stance against Hamas invading Israel, but we also have a very hard stance against the Israeli government killing children and women, without any respect for human life. Now, [the war] is a way that President Netanyahu has found to stay in power, which is to take revenge on the Palestinians, and now on Beirut.”

For Lula, Tel Aviv was “not taking into account the need to prevent the people [in Beirut] from being the victims”. He added: “Because, normally, the victim is not the one waging the war, it's the innocent people who don't want war; the victims are our women, our children, because we don't just lose our lives, we lose schools, hospitals, a whole series of things that would bring tranquillity.”

The Brazilian president insisted he would do everything possible to bring all Brazilians, or Lebanese who have Brazilian relatives, to Brazil. “As long as there is a companion, be it Brazilian or a relative of a Brazilian there in Lebanon, we will look for them because we don't leave anyone behind. We'll try to bring everyone who wants to come. May God bless you all! May you rebuild your lives here and find in Brazil the happiness that was taken from you in Lebanon,” he added while highlighting the Arab culture's importance for Brazil.

“You know that there are around 8 million, 9 million Arabs here. There are probably more Lebanese living in Brazil than in Lebanon itself,” Lula underlined. The president recalled that the Lebanese helped build São Paulo and “have a lot of responsibility for what we are.”

In this scenario, the Brazilian government announced it would be donating 20,000 syringes with needles and 4,000 individual needles to Lebanon on the flight heading back to Beirut. The donation is in response to a request made by the Lebanese Embassy in Brasilia on Sept. 23.

In 2023, Brazil made humanitarian donations of medicines, immunizers, and health supplies to several countries, including Bolivia, Cape Verde, Cuba, Libya, Haiti, Palestine, Suriname, and Turkey. In 2024, Grenada, Guyana, Honduras, Paraguay, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Uruguay also received Brazilian health donations.