Ministry official: Nearly 10,500 Egyptians return from Libya by air

The total number of Egyptians who have returned from Libya in flights reached 10,452 on Wednesday, a source at the Aviation Ministry said.
 
In remarks made to the press, the source said the 44th flight in the airlift set up to evacuate Egyptians landed in Cairo on Wednesday morning.
 
The number of Egyptians who have returned by air has risen by nearly 1,000 in just a few days. By Saturday, 9,547 had returned home in 37 flights.
 
Evacuation of Egyptian nationals from Libya began last month, after Egypt's air force launched airstrikes on militant targets in its restive neighbor on 16 February.
 
Most Egyptians returning home by air, cross into Tunisia first. However, some are flown home from Algeria after they cross al-Debdeb border crossing, on the Algerian-Libyan borders.
 
The vast majority of evacuees have, however, fled the restive neighbor and directly returned to Egypt through the Salloum border crossing on the Libyan-Egyptians borders.
 
As of Friday, more than 29,000 Egyptians had returned home this way, the top security official of Matrouh governorate told state television. 
 
The Egyptian airstrikes in Libya were in response to the beheading of 21 men, 20 of whom were Egyptians, at the hand of militants believed to belong to a Libyan division to Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.  
 
Several Egyptians had previously been caught up in the violence in Libya, becoming the target of attacks.
 
This ongoing evacuation of Egyptians from Libya is the second in less than a year.