CANBERRA, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday confirmed that Australia has deployed military assets to the Middle East to aid with the repatriation of citizens.
Speaking in parliament, Albanese said that the government deployed military assets to the Middle East earlier in the week as part of contingency planning to help Australian citizens who are stranded in the region amid widespread travel disruptions caused by the ongoing conflict.
Local media reported that the military assets deployed to the Middle East were a transport aircraft and a refueling plane.
The government on Wednesday announced it was deploying six crisis response teams from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade into the Middle East to provide additional consular assistance to citizens.
Australia has 115,000 citizens in the Middle East, with around 24,000 in the United Arab Emirates, according to local media reports. ■
