Countries evacuate citizens from Lebanon

Nations worldwide have begun to evacuate citizens from Lebanon after a dramatic escalation in the conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah. People are also fleeing on their own.

Here are details of evacuations or plans to evacuate:

Australia
Australia started evacuating its nationals from Lebanon via Cyprus on Saturday. Some 229 people arrived on the east Mediterranean island on a commercial airline chartered by Australia, with a second flight scheduled later in the day. More flights could be expected based on demand, Australian and Cypriot officials said.

Belgium
Belgium’s foreign ministry has advised citizens to leave as soon as possible, the Belga news agency said.

Brazil
Brazil, which says 3,000 nationals want to be repatriated, has sent an Air Force Airbus A330 for those seeking to leave. The plane was due to fly 220 people out of Beirut on Friday and do two flights a week.

China
More than 200 Chinese citizens have been safely evacuated from Lebanon, China’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.

Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Canadian citizens still in Lebanon on Saturday to sign up to be evacuated on special flights that have already helped more than 1,000 leave. Canada has 6,000 signed up to leave and officials are trying to reach another 2,500 over the weekend, an official in Trudeau’s office said, adding that more flights were being added for Monday and Tuesday.

Cyprus
Cyprus evacuated 38 of its nationals on Thursday using an aircraft provided by Greece, and chartered another flight for 70 people, including a number of Cypriots and other nationalities including from Greece and Poland to Cyprus on Friday night.

Denmark
Denmark has urged citizens to leave as soon as possible, but said it had not initiated an evacuation as there were still commercial flights out of Lebanon. Middle East Airlines will add extra flights from Beirut to European destinations to meet the demand for commercial travel outwards, the Danish foreign ministry said.

France
France has had contingency plans for months but has not yet ordered an evacuation.
Current plans centre on Cyprus and Beirut airport, while it is also discussing evacuations via Turkey. France has a warship in the region, with a helicopter carrier set to arrive in the eastern Mediterranean in coming days in preparation for any decision to evacuate foreign nationals from Lebanon.

Germany
Germany’s Foreign Ministry said it was flying another 219 nationals out of Lebanon on Friday as it continues to evacuate non-essential staff, families of embassy workers and medically vulnerable nationals. It says it will support others trying to leave.

Greece
Greece, which evacuated 22 nationals on Thursday along with some Cypriot citizens, has urged its citizens to leave Lebanon and avoid any travel there, putting a frigate on standby in case assistance is required.

Italy
Italy has cut diplomatic staff and added security personnel at its Beirut embassy. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has repeatedly urged nationals to leave the country and sought assurances from Israel over the safety of Italian peacekeepers in the area.

Japan
Eleven Japanese and five foreign nationals left Lebanon for Jordan aboard Japan’s C-2 military transport aircraft on Friday. There were about 50 Japanese citizens in Lebanon as of Thursday.

The Netherlands
The Netherlands is sending a military plane to repatriate nationals from Lebanon via two flights on Friday and Saturday, the Dutch defence ministry has said, adding that the flights to the military airbase in Eindhoven will also accommodate people from other countries if there is enough room.

Poland
A plane carrying several dozens of Poles and citizens of other countries who wanted to leave Lebanon landed in Warsaw on Friday. Poland earlier said it would limit staff numbers at its Beirut embassy.

Portugal
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro has advised against travel to Lebanon, which assisted in the evacuation of a small number of Portuguese citizens living there.

Romania
Romania evacuated 69 citizens from Lebanon in a military aircraft on Thursday, its foreign and defence ministries said.
More than 1,100 Romanian citizens and their families registered their presence in Lebanon at the embassy, the foreign ministry said this week.

Russia
Russia has started evacuating citizens from Lebanon, with families of its diplomats leaving on a special flight from Beirut on Thursday, its emergencies minister said. About 3,000 Russians and citizens of the Commonwealth of Independent States want to leave, the TASS news agency said.

Slovakia
Slovakia has sent a military aircraft to fly Slovak and other citizens to Cyprus.

South Korea
A South Korean military aircraft has evacuated 97 citizens and family members from Lebanon, the country’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.

Spain
Spain said it planned to send two military aircraft to evacuate as many as 350 citizens from Lebanon.

Turkey
Turkiye’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday it was ready for possible evacuation of Turks from Lebanon via air and sea, and was working with about 20 countries for a possible evacuation of foreign nationals via Turkiye. About 14,000 Turkish citizens were registered at the consulate in Lebanon, but the number was not definitive.

United Kingdom
Britain has chartered a limited number of flights for citizens to leave Lebanon, repeating advice to evacuate immediately. It has moved about 700 troops to Cyprus, bolstering military assets, including two Royal Navy ships.

United States
The United States has ordered dozens of troops deployed to Cyprus to help prepare for scenarios such as an evacuation of Americans from Lebanon. It is working with airlines to add flights out of Lebanon, with more seats for Americans, the State Department said on Tuesday.