UK troops scrambled to assist rescue stranded Brits in Lebanon
The Ministry of Defence is drawing up a mass evacuation plan to help rescue up to 10,000 Brits stranded in Lebanon as hostilities escalate between Israel and Hezbollah.
British troops are expected to be deployed to nearby Cyprus to help those waiting to support British citizens trapped amid fears a regional war could soon break out.
Those already stationed in Lebanon could also be drawn in to help evacuate Brits should the burgeoning conflict continue to escalate, The Times reports.
Thousands of people have been displaced by relentless bombing over the last few days, with nearly 560 people killed and thousands wounded in the crossfire.
Israel said yesterday it was prepared to invade Lebanon if needed – as its allies and regional powers urged restraint, citing the deaths of scores of civilians already.
File photo, Iraq. British soldiers could be drawn into Lebanon to help evacuate nationals
Israeli strikes continue to pound Lebanon (Pictured: Abbasiyeh village on Tuesday)
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish children watch as smoke billows following rocket fire from Lebanon into Israel on Tuesday
Smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Abbasiyeh on Tuesday
Israel’s Iron Dome intercepts rockets fired from Lebanon on Tuesday evening
John Healey, the defence secretary, left the Labour conference early today to lead a high-level meeting on the crisis in Lebanon.
‘Our concern is always for the safety of British nationals,’ he said after leaving the COBRA meeting.
‘And our advice to them is to leave Lebanon now, that hasn’t changed.
‘And this was a meeting simply to make sure that we’ve got plans in place for future developments.’
The country, to Israel’s north, has been rocked by Israeli strikes since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza, but exchanges have escalated since last week.
Hezbollah suffered casualties in their thousands when pagers and then walkie-talkie devices started exploding across Lebanon last Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
Israel later denied involvement, but is widely believed to have carried out the attacks.
Hezbollah retaliated with more strikes into Israel, and Israel has responded in kind, shelling Hezbollah’s bases in the south of the country before pressing into Beirut yesterday.
Britain’s foreign office told MailOnline last night that it continues to advise Britons in Lebanon to leave while flights are available – but had stopped short of ordering an evacuation.
In a post on Twitter/X, Foreign Secretary David Lammy wrote: ‘My message to British nationals in Lebanon is leave while commercial options remain.
‘Tensions are high and the situation could deteriorate rapidly.’
In light of the escalating attacks, ‘thousands’ of people have moved north from southern villages, according to Lebanon.
Shelters have been desperately set up in the south for people arriving in Beirut and Sidon.
Meanwhile, the border crossing with Syria saw massive traffic jams as a result of people escaping from Lebanon to the neighboring country.
Syria, embroiled in a bloody civil war, is also not deemed a safe place for travel.
In the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, the state-run National News Agency reported that lines formed at bakeries and gas stations as residents rushed to stock up on essential supplies in anticipation of another round of strikes on Tuesday.
Israel continued to launch strikes into Lebanon through Tuesday as Hezbollah fired back across the border.
Israeli military officials said they carried out dozens of airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, including on a cell that fired rockets overnight, and that tanks and artillery struck targets near the border.
They also said they carried out a ‘targeted strike’ in Beirut without giving details. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said six people were killed and 15 were wounded in the strike in a southern suburb, an area where Hezbollah has a strong presence.
The country’s National News Agency said the attack destroyed three floors of a six-story apartment building.
John Healey, the defence secretary, left the Labour conference early today to lead a high-level meeting on the crisis in Lebanon
A woman sits with a child on her lap next to bags on the ground as people fleeing from Lebanon arrive on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon in Jdeidat Yabus in southwestern Syria on September 24
Lebanese soldiers and rescuers work in a street under a residential building whose top two floors were hit by an Israeli strike in the Ghobeiri area of Beirut’s southern suburbs today
Bystanders and reporters check the destruction in a street under a residential building in Beirut’s suburbs on Tuesday
A Lebanese soldier looks on, at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs today
The Lebanese Health Ministry said the strikes since Monday killed at least 558 people, including 50 children and 94 women, and wounded more than 1,800 people – a staggering toll for a country still reeling from a deadly attack on communication devices last week.
Nearly a year of cross-border fire had already emptied out communities near the border, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides.
Israel has vowed to do whatever it takes to ensure its citizens can return to their homes in the north, while Hezbollah has said it will keep up its rocket attacks until there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which appears increasingly remote.
The Israeli military says it has no immediate plans for a ground invasion but is prepared for one, after moving thousands of troops who had been serving in Gaza to the northern border.
It says Hezbollah has launched some 9,000 rockets and drones into Israel since last October, including 250 on Monday alone.
