‘All hands on deck:’ Middle East embassies inundated with citizens stranded in US
Middle East embassies are overwhelmed with calls from citizens trying to return home as COVID-19 spreads in the United States.
Diplomats in Washington are working overtime to repatriate stranded citizens worried about the accelerating coronavirus pandemic in the United States.
“It’s frantic,” said Gabriel Issa, Lebanon’s ambassador to the United States. His embassy in Washington, DC, has set up hotlines to collect the names of Lebanese citizens who want to return home, and a skeleton staff is manning the phones.
“A lot of times we can’t even answer all the phones at the same time,” Issa said. “We are overloaded but trying to do our best.”
Amid tightening restrictions on travel in their home countries and the continued cancellation of flights in the United States, the phone lines at many Middle East embassies in DC are ringing off the hook with expats desperate for the latest information on possible return flights. Staff who are typically assigned to nonconsular services are pitching in, answering calls and facilitating travel.
