People are shelling out up to $1,600 for a seat on one of the yachts travelling from Lebanon to Cyprus, as Israel renewed its bombardment of the southern suburbs of Beirut. Once a symbol of indulgence, luxury boats operating from the marina in the city of Dbayeh, north of the capital, are now a lifeline out of a warzone . With the Middle East moving closer to a long-feared regional war, a day after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel , only one commercial airline is operating out of Lebanon.
Cyprus is less than 120 miles away from the Lebanese shores, and with no flights available, it is becoming the last option for people to flee Israel’s indiscriminate airstrikes . To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser that supports HTML5video A number of companies are advertising their services on TikTok , with the prices of the journey to the Mediterranean island going up rapidly. When Metro contacted one captain of a luxury boat, he told us the six-hour trip is $1,600 per person.
Just a few days earlier, the same journey was being promoted online for $300 less. The next available date from Dbayeh to the southeast town of Ayia Napa was also three days away. ‘You must have a Lebanese passport and a visa for Cyprus or a European passport.
All our luxury yachts are fully equipped, insured and safe,’ the company added. It was just a few weeks ago that those same accounts on TikTok shared videos of summer parties on the yachts..