More Countries Evacuate Citizens From Lebanon as Israel–Hezbollah War Heats Up

Smoke rises above Beirut's southern suburbs during an Israeli strike, on Sept. 27, 2024. AFP via Getty Images

Nations around the world are ramping up efforts to get their citizens out of Lebanon as the Israeli military expands its offensive throughout the country.

Around 250 U.S. citizens and their noncitizen family members have left Lebanon on U.S. government-organized flights this week so far.

The first flight out on Oct. 2 carried around 120 people. The second flight left Beirut on Oct. 3 with another 134 people.

The State Department has asked U.S. citizens currently in Lebanon to contact the department for assistance.

“There are now around 7,000 people who have contacted us. Not all of those are looking for assistance to leave,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Oct. 2.

The evacuations followed Israeli warplanes’ intensified airstrikes throughout the country, as Israeli ground forces marched into southern Lebanon. The Israeli forces are primarily targeting Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist political faction that has a strong political presence in Lebanon and has been designated as a terrorist group by numerous countries around the world.

The Israeli military has advised residents throughout Lebanon to evacuate and steer clear of its expanding counter-Hezbollah operations.

Miller on Oct. 3 said the State Department would continue to organize evacuation flights as long as the security situation in Lebanon continues to deteriorate, and as long as there is demand from Americans in the country.

The German government was among the first to organize an evacuation flight for its citizens this week, flying 111 people from Beirut to Berlin on Sept. 30. The German Foreign Ministry announced a second flight on Oct. 2, getting another 130 “particularly vulnerable German citizens” out of the country.

The British Foreign Office chartered a flight out of Lebanon for its citizens on Oct. 2 and has said it will charter additional flights from the country in the coming days.

The Australian government also organized evacuation flights on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced additional Australian evacuation flights were leaving Lebanon on Oct. 3. Wong said the Australian government has reserved 500 seats on two more flights from Lebanon to Cyprus, leaving on Oct. 5.

Cyprus has agreements with around a dozen countries to act as a temporary host for their evacuated nationals before their repatriation.

Bulgaria evacuated 89 people from Lebanon on Sept. 30. Acting Bulgarian Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev said 61 Bulgarians had asked to be evacuated on the second trip on Oct. 1.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in a southern Beirut suburb, on Oct. 3, 2024. Fadel Itani/AFP via Getty Images

This week, Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, urged around 1,000 Spanish civilians currently in Lebanon to leave the country.

Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles on Oct. 3 announced that her government had dispatched two military planes to evacuate 350 Spanish citizens from Lebanon. Both aircraft have since returned to Spain with their passengers.

China’s official Xinhua news agency reported 146 Chinese nationals and five members of their families arrived in Beijing on Oct. 2, after being evacuated from Lebanon on a charter flight.

Japan’s state-run broadcaster NHK reported two Japanese nationals were evacuated from Lebanon to Cyprus on a Japanese government-charted ship.

NHK reported the Japanese Self-Defense Forces dispatched two C-2 military transport jets on Oct. 3. The transport planes are due to arrive in Jordan and Greece on Oct. 4 in anticipation of a possible airlift for 50 additional Japanese nationals currently in Lebanon.

South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol on Oct. 2 ordered military transport aircraft to deploy to the Middle East to evacuate South Koreans across the region. There are reportedly about 480 South Korean nationals living in Israel, 130 in Lebanon, and 110 in Iran.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Oct. 1 announced it has prepared plans to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon both by air and sea.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.