Israel-Hezbollah war: How countries are evacuating nationals out of Lebanon

Countries across the world are urging their citizens to flee conflict-ridden Lebanon following an escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Russia, France, Spain and Greece are some countries that have drafted contingency plans to evacuate their citizens from Lebanon after Israeli forces launched a barrage of missiles and ground raids.

While some countries are providing air evacuations, many are using road transport to get out of the divisive region, informed the Times of Israel.

In the most recent airstrike by the Jewish nation on its neighbour on Thursday, nine health workers were killed while several others were injured, informed Lebanon’s health ministry.

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Amid fears of a full-blown war between the two nations, foreign citizens stuck in Beirut and other regions are fleeing the country.

Here is what countries are doing to transport thousands of their nationals out of Lebanon.

Russia

On Thursday, Russia began evacuating its citizens using a special flight from Beirut. It mainly consisted of family members of Russian diplomats, informed its emergencies minister.

An emergency situations ministry aeroplane took off from Beirut on Thursday on the orders of President Vladimir Putin, the ministry wrote on Telegram.

France

The French foreign ministry informed that Lebanese carrier Middle East Airlines carried French nationals from Lebanon to Paris in two commercial flights on Thursday. French authorities had reserved 200 seats for its citizens with health conditions as well as elderly or isolated individuals.

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An estimated 24,000 French passport holders, mainly dual nationals, are in Lebanon. France on Monday sent an amphibious assault ship to the eastern Mediterranean, should Paris decide a wider evacuation, a high-ranking officer told AFP.

Australia

It has organised hundreds of airline seats for its citizens to leave Lebanon, and has flown military aircraft to Cyprus as part of a contingency plan, reported news agency Reuters. As many as 15,000 citizens are stuck in the country.

Experts speculate that Australia’s contingency plans could include evacuation by sea although stress is being laid on leaving via Beirut Airport.

Germany

Germany pulled 241 people out of Lebanon on two air force flights on Monday (September 30) and Wednesday (October 3), the government said. Its Beirut embassy’s non-essential workers, their dependents, some citizens with medical conditions, and members of German organisations, were among the passengers.

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.

The Netherlands

The Dutch government has announced it will fly a military plane to Beirut to repatriate Dutch — with the first evacuation planned on Friday and a second expected on Saturday. The foreign ministry has said around 300 Dutch people have registered for evacuation.

Greece

Greece on Thursday sent Cyprus a C-130 military aircraft to evacuate dozens of Greek and Cypriot nationals from Lebanon with two more planes on standby, its defence minister said. A total of 38 Cyprus and 22 Greek nationals were “successfully” evacuated, Nikos Dendias wrote on X.

Around 3,500 Greek nationals live in Lebanon, in addition to another 1,000 dependants, state broadcaster ERT said.

Spain

A first military aeroplane brought just over 200 Spanish citizens to Madrid from Beirut just after 5:00 pm (local time), the defence ministry announced on X. It said a second group of Spanish citizens had also arrived in Madrid aboard another military plane.

Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles said on Wednesday that Spain would “in principle” evacuate around 350 people out of Beirut.

The foreign ministry said that the “evacuation operation is finished and has been successful”, adding that 200 Spaniards, 40 Lebanese and citizens from Argentina, Britain, France, Italy, Venezuela and the US were also aboard.

Moldova

The Moldovan foreign ministry on Wednesday announced “the successful evacuation” from Lebanon of 11 Moldovans, mostly children, with the support of Ukraine and the International Organisation for Migration.

Britain

Britain on Wednesday chartered a commercial flight for its nationals from Beirut airport, prioritising vulnerable nationals. The UK government has said further flights could be arranged if needed.

Last week, London announced the deployment of 700 soldiers to Cyprus to prepare for a possible evacuation of its citizens from Lebanon.

Canada

Canada has reserved 800 seats on commercial planes to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon. About 45,000 Canadians are currently in Lebanon. The Canadian military has set up emergency resources in Cyprus if commercial flights are interrupted.

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 were Lebanese.

Some 210,000 Palestinian refugees live in camps and informal settlements in Lebanon, according to the UN children’s agency UNICEF.

With inputs from agencies