Nations are updating contingency plans for organising evacuations from Lebanon after a sharp escalation in border warfare between Israel and the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah.
Cyprus, the closest European Union member state to the Middle East, is a likely hub, having processed around 60,000 people fleeing the Hezbollah-Israel war in 2006.
Neighbouring Turkey has offered facilities as well.
No country has activated a large-scale military evacuation yet, though some are chartering aircraft to assist in their nationals leaving as Beirut airport remains open. There have also been plans to evacuate by sea to Cyprus, enabling the movement of larger groups of people at a time.
Here are details on contingency planning:
Australia
Australian authorities have made contingency plans that could include evacuation by sea, though it has urged an estimated 15,000 of its citizens in Lebanon to leave while Beirut airport remains open.
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.
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.
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.
Cyprus
The foreign minister of Cyprus says evacuations of third-country nationals from Lebanon to the east Mediterranean island nation are “slow and controlled so far.”
Cyprus has agreements with around a dozen countries to act as a temporary host for their evacuated nationals before their repatriation. Under the “Estia” plan, evacuees will be processed and given accommodations for a few days before catching flights to their home countries.
Kombos said Cyprus has received some staff from foreign diplomatic missions and some Saudi nationals a few days ago. About 60 Chinese nationals are due to arrive by ship at the island nation’s main port of Limassol.
France
France, which has been urging citizens not to travel to Lebanon, has had evacuation plans in place for several months but has not issued an evacuation order. Present contingency plans centre around Cyprus and Beirut airport, while it is also discussing evacuations via Turkey.
France has a warship in the region, while a French helicopter carrier will arrive in the eastern Mediterranean in the coming days and take up position in case a decision is taken to evacuate foreign nationals from Lebanon, a French army spokesperson said on Tuesday.
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.
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.
(france24.com)
