Britons in Lebanon were urged to leave immediately on Tuesday as Israeli strikes continue to shake the country, leaving thousands dead, injured or displaced.
Sir Keir Starmer said in a stark warning that UK citizens should flee the conflict with Hezbollah as Britain ‘ramps up’ contingency plans for a desperate evacuation.
Hundreds of Royal Marine commandos, sailors and combat engineers were deployed to the Mediterranean overnight as part of a potential ‘Dunkirk-style’ rescue of up to 10,000 British citizens.
A 700-strong force was being rushed to the region following approval from Downing Street of evacuation plans drawn up by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), with warships stationed in the region poised to facilitate evacuations.
The mission template, known in military circles as ‘Operation Meteoric’, could see commandos making beach landings in Lebanon with UK citizens escorted on to a flotilla of military vessels.
The operation would be ‘green-lit’ should routes out of the war-torn country, such as international air corridors, be closed down.
The Foreign Office echoed the warnings to leave Lebanon ‘immediately’ in a statement shared late Tuesday, continuing to advise against all travel to Lebanon ‘as the situation continues to deteriorate rapidly’ with ‘devastating consequences’.
HMS Duncan (pictured, undated) is already in the Mediterranean alongside a US task force
File photo, Iraq. British soldiers could be drawn into Lebanon to help evacuate nationals
A forklift removes a damaged car as Lebanese army and emergency workers gather at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut’s suburbs, on Tuesday
Soldiers are desperately trying to manage the spiralling situation in Lebanon
Smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Abbasiyeh on Tuesday
The Lebanese Health Ministry said the strikes since Monday have killed at least 569 and wounded more than 1,800 people – a staggering toll for a country still reeling from a deadly attack on communication devices last week
Vehicles wait in traffic in the town of Damour on Tuesday as thousands try to flee
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
Yesterday, commercial carriers including British Airways were already cancelling flights to and from the region. Other countries, including Egypt, began restricting passage on Monday.
Amphibious troops would spearhead the rescue bid while the RAF, flying from the UK’s airbase on Cyprus, would provide ‘top cover’.
British troops are expected to be deployed to nearby Cyprus to help those waiting to support citizens trapped amid fears a regional war could soon break out.
Royal Navy ships RFA Mounts Bay and HMS Duncan have been in the eastern Mediterranean region to support allies all summer.
The Royal Air Force also have aircraft and transport helicopters on standby to provide support if necessary.
The Foreign Office said Border Force and FCDO officials would be on hand to support military units.
Despite repeated government pleas, thousands of UK citizens have opted to remain in Lebanon as security in the country has worsened.
But Defence Secretary John Healey said last night: ‘Events in the past hours and days have demonstrated how volatile this situation is which is why our message is clear – British nationals should leave now.
‘We continue to urge all sides to step back from conflict to prevent further tragic loss of life.
‘Government is ensuring all preparations are in place to support British nationals should the situation deteriorate.’
Mr Healey stepped away from the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool early on Tuesday to attend an urgent COBRA meeting discussing the conflict.
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.’
Operation Meteoric has been likened to the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of allied soldiers from Dunkirk in 1940 when they were surrounded by German forces, known as Operation Dynamo.
It comes as Iran stoked fears of a terrifying regional conflict as it warned Hezbollah ‘cannot stand alone’ against Israel.
The Jewish State has hit 1,600 targets across Lebanon in 24 hours which officials claimed set the extremist militia ’20 years backward’. But the strikes killed at least 569 people, including 50 children, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Sir Keir Starmer yesterday called for ‘restraint and de-escalation at the border’. He added: ‘Again, all parties to pull back from the brink.’
Smoke rises over buildings in southern Lebanon amid the wave of airstrikes, on Monday
A firefighter works at the site of an Israeli strike, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, on Tuesday
Israeli strikes continue to pound Lebanon (Pictured: Abbasiyeh village on Tuesday)
Smoke rises after Israeli airstrike on forested area which cause a fire in Safad El Battikh, Lebanon on Tuesday
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish children watch as smoke billows following rocket fire from Lebanon into Israel on Tuesday
But Israel appears to be edging closer to all-out war with Hezbollah as it has kept up days of devastating aerial bombardment following its alleged pager and walkie talkie booby-trap attacks last week. Israel have denied their involvement.
Hezbollah, a proscribed terror group in the UK, retaliated with salvoes of rockets fired into Israel, escalating through to Sunday before Israel unleashed devastating strikes on southern Lebanon, Tyre, Sidon and the suburbs of Beirut.
The group began bombing northern Israel in support of Hamas a day after the October 7 massacre – and says it will only stop if there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu hopes his own strikes will force the group to back down without him having to make peace with Hamas or being forced into a ground invasion.
But there are fears the deadly campaign could provoke Iran to come to the aid of its proxy – and spark a horrific regional war. Jerusalem claimed Operation Northern Arrows, as it has dubbed the campaign in Lebanon, signals to Tehran it is ‘unafraid to act decisively to prevent further escalation’, but the theocracy appears in no mood to back down.
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian, however, warned yesterday: ‘We must not allow for Lebanon to become another Gaza at the hands of Israel – Hezbollah cannot do that alone.’
Despite this, Israel ploughed ahead dropping some 2,000 munitions, including a ‘targeted strike’ in Beirut which it claimed killed Ibrahim Kobeissi, Hezbollah’s senior missile commander.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah retaliated by firing over 160 rockets at targets across northern Israel on Tuesday following overnight strikes on the coastal city of Haifa.
Cars jammed the roads for a second day as tens of thousands fled southern Lebanon with the usual one-hour journey from the border to Beirut taking 17 hours.
Ali Zalghout, in his 70s, told how Israeli drones buzzed above as he queued fleeing with his family of 14 from the village of Beit Lif following a strike near his home.
‘It was a tense and difficult journey, we were afraid for our kids,’ he told the Daily Mail.
John Healey, the defence secretary, left the Labour conference early today to lead a high-level meeting on the crisis in Lebanon
Bystanders and reporters check the destruction in a street under a residential building in Beirut’s suburbs on Tuesday
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
Lebanese people flee with their cars from southern Lebanon towards Sidon and Beirut, at Zahrani-Nabatieh road, in Ghazieh, southern Lebanon, 23 September
Traffic jams form in the Lebanese city of Sidon on September 23 as people flee their homes
Families displaced from villages farther south slept in shelters hastily set up in schools in Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon.
US President Joe Biden yesterday said he was pushing for a diplomatic solution. ‘Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest,’ he said as the UN General Assembly met in New York.
Unicef deputy representative to Lebanon Ettie Higgins warned of the devastation of an all-out war: ‘Any further escalation in this conflict would be catastrophic for all children in Lebanon,’ he said.
And UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned: ‘The world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.’
MailOnline contacted the Ministry of Defence for comment.