Israel launched a ground offensive in Lebanon on Tuesday, escalating a conflict against Hezbollah after a week of air strikes that have killed hundreds.
Several countries have begun evacuating their nationals from Lebanon or are planning to do so.
– Britain –
Britain has chartered a commercial flight for its nationals that will depart from Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport on Wednesday.
The UK government has said further flights may be arranged, depending on demand.
It said it would prioritise “vulnerable British nationals” for Wednesday’s flight.
Last week, London announced the deployment of 700 soldiers to Cyprus to prepare for a possible evacuation of its citizens from Lebanon.
– Canada –
Canada has reserved 800 seats on commercial planes to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon, with the next flight scheduled to depart on Tuesday.
About 45,000 Canadians are currently in Lebanon.
The Canadian military has set up emergency resources in Cyprus if commercial flights are interrupted.
– Germany –
On Monday, Germany flew out its Beirut embassy’s non-essential staff, their dependants and some of its citizens in Lebanon with medical conditions.
About 110 passengers boarded the German air force A321 plane, which landed in Berlin late in the evening.
The Beirut embassy remained operational to help the estimated 1,800 German citizens in Lebanon “in their departure via commercial flights and other means”, the government said.
“We are currently at a stage where we support the departure (of citizens) but we are explicitly not in an evacuation scenario,” a government spokesman said on Monday.
– Japan –
Japan is urging its citizens to leave Lebanon on commercial flights and is preparing military flights for their possible return, the government said on Friday.
C-2 military transport planes have been ordered to go to Jordan and Greece to be on stand-by in case Japanese nationals need to be transported out of the region.
Japanese media said there were around 50 Japanese citizens currently in Lebanon.
– Philippines –
The Philippines vowed last week to evacuate 11,000 citizens from Lebanon the moment Israeli forces crossed the border to launch a ground offensive.
“A ground invasion will lead to mandatory repatriation,” Foreign Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said on Friday, adding the plan was to move thousands out of the country via the sea.
He did not provide details.
Manila had earlier urged Filipinos to leave Lebanon before commercial airlines stopped flying to Beirut.
Millions of Filipinos work in the Middle East. Around 90 percent of those in Lebanon are female domestic workers.
– Portugal –
Portugal evacuated 44 people from Lebanon — 28 nationals and their families — by military plane via Cyprus on Saturday evening.
– Bulgaria –
A total of 89 Bulgarians evacuated from Lebanon — mostly families with children — arrived in Sofia late Monday. A government plane is expected to make a second flight on Tuesday.
Around 400 Bulgarians live in Lebanon, and so far 160 of them have declared they want to be evacuated from the country, according to deputy foreign minister Elena Shekerletova.
– Refugees –
The United Nations Refugee agency said on Monday around 100,000 people had fled to Syria from Lebanon due to Israeli air strikes.
The UNHCR representative in Syria said most evacuees were women and children. Around 80 percent were Syrian nationals and 20 percent Lebanese.
Some 210,000 Palestinian refugees live in camps and informal settlements in Lebanon, according to the UN children’s agency UNICEF.
An Israeli air strike hit a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, killing several inhabitants, Lebanon’s official National News Agency said.
burs/jhb
