British warships and aircraft are on standby to help evacuate UK citizens from Lebanon as fears of all-out conflict rise after Israel assassinated Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.
Urgent calls grew on Sunday for foreign nationals to leave Lebanon, which would be on the front line of a regional war, as Iran and its allies readied their response to the high-profile killings of Hezbollah’s military chief Fuad Shukr in Beirut on Tuesday and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that Haniyeh was killed by a ‘short-range projectile’ fired from outside his home.
Several Royal Air Force transport helicopters and two naval ships are on standby in the eastern Mediterranean including the Type 45 air-defence destroyer HMS Duncan and the RFA Cardigan Bay, a transport ship that can deploy landing craft.
The Ministry of Defence said it is deploying military personnel ‘to provide embassies with operational support to help British nationals’.
Type 45 air-defence destroyer HMS Duncan is on standby in the eastern Mediterranean to evacuate British citizens in Lebanon
The RFA Cardigan Bay, a transport ship that can deploy landing craft, is also on standby in the region
Foreign secretary David Lammy has urged British citizens in Lebanon to ‘leave now’, as the US, France, Canada, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and Jordan gave their citizens the same instructions.
The US embassy in Lebanon told its citizens to ‘book any ticket available to them’ out of the country, adding: ‘We recommend that US citizens who choose not to depart Lebanon prepare contingency plans for emergency situations and be prepared to shelter in place for an extended period of time.’
‘In a highly volatile security context’, French nationals were told to avoid travelling to Lebanon, and those already in the country were told ‘leave as soon as possible’.
Foreign secretary David Lammy has urged British citizens in Lebanon to ‘leave now’
Rockets fired from southern Lebanon are intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system over the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel on Sunday, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Lebanon’s Hezbollah fighters
The nearly 10-month-old war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas has already led to a violent fallout which has become routine around the region.
In the deadliest incident on Sunday in Gaza, the Civil Defence agency said an Israeli strike hit two Gaza City schools housing displaced people, killing at least 30.
This brings the number of schools hit in Gaza since July 6 to at least 11.
Israel’s army confirmed the latest strike and claimed Hamas was using the schools.
