Australia evacuates Israel and UAE-based personnel, tells expats to leave, as military planes fly out of Perth

Australia has now ordered all non-essential officials and their families from both Israel and the United Arab Emirates to leave the Middle East as the US-Israel-Iran war escalates.

The departure order marks a dramatic shift in the situation with Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv typically considered high-tier, generally safe diplomatic postings for Australian officials.

It comes after Australia has called for all expats living and working in the Middle East to leave the region with fears commercial flights will “dry up”.

“If you can secure a seat on a commercial flight, you should take it,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a direct message to expats on Thursday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also expressed concern, describing the situation as “dangerous”, “volatile and unpredictable”

He said while Australia travellers caught in transit when the war broke out have all returned home, concerns had now shifted to remaining expats appearing to wait it out.

“The Middle East remains volatile and unpredictable. It is a dangerous situation,” he told Parliament.

“The Australian government continues to work around the clock to support Australians who are affected by the ongoing war in the Middle East. Our first priority, as always, is to keep Australians safe and to get help to Australians who need it.”

A series of military planes left Perth overnight, bound for the Middle East to help defend Gulf nations.

The Albanese government claims the deployment is solely linked to a request from the UAE but has confirmed a number of nations, including ally the US, has asked Australia for support.

Australia has sent a top surveillance plane, known as an E-7A Wedgetail aircraft, to the region as well as an undisclosed quantity of advanced medium range missiles, known as AMRAAMs.

A series of support aircrafts, including two RAAF A330 MRTT and a tanker have also flown out with the Wedgetail across the Indian Ocean.

While in Indonesia on a diplomatic trip on Thursday, Defence Minister Richard Marles insisted that Australia was acting only in a defensive capacity, not offensive.

“The deployment of an E-7 to the Gulf, and that is very much at the request of the United Arab Emirates, and it is there to provide for contribution to the defence of the countries of the Gulf,” he said.

“We’ve had requests from a number of countries in respect of that, including the United States, but our deployment of the E-7 is very much in response to the specific request that we received by the UAE.”

There are some 115,000 Australians thought to be in the broader region but only about 13,000 registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for assistance to leave the region.

An estimated 24,000 Aussies are based in the UAE, predominantly in the business hubs of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

It’s estimated that 11,000 Aussies transit through the Middle East airports daily on their way to Europe and other destinations.

Smartraveller has maintained its “do not travel” warning for Australians to Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, the UAE and Yemen.

Australians should reconsider the need to travel to Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia and exercise a high degree of caution in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Egypt and Turkey.

Australians in need of emergency consular assistance should contact the Australian Government 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre: +61 2 6261 3305 from overseas 1300 555 135 in Australia.