Germany has become the first Western country to initiative an emergency evacuation of its citizens from Lebanon utilizing military transport planes amid the rapidly deteriorating security situation.
Some 110 passengers were flown out of Beirut international airport in an initial flight on a German air force A321 plane on Monday. The group included diplomats and non-essential staff from the German embassy as well as their families. German citizens who with medical conditions were also on this first flight out.
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| German air force A321 plane, via planespotters.net |
Essential personnel at Germany's embassy in Beirut have remained, in order to help facilitate the safe exit of the estimated 1,800 German citizens still in the country.
"German nationals who are particularly at risk due to medical circumstances are also being taken," a statement of the military transport flight.
More such military facilitated flights are likely, but a timeline is unclear at this point. There's an expectation of wider war as Israeli builds up military forces along the border for an 'imminent' ground incursion into south Lebanon.
Israel has also for the first time since 2006 begun striking targets in central Beirut. An estimated one million people throughout the country, but especially in the south, have been displaced thus far.
A German government spokesman announced Monday that "we are currently at a stage where we support the departure (of citizens) but we are explicitly not in an evacuation scenario."
The statement emphasized that "all Germans in Lebanon have been urged to leave the country since October 2023."
However,
given the almost complete halt to commercial airline traffic
at Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport, and the fact that Germany
had to utilize a military flight to get its diplomats and citizens out
in a first wave, it sure looks like this is the start of an evacuation
scenario.
No other country ever done something like this before - full terror
— Furkan Gözükara (@GozukaraFurkan) September 28, 2024
IDF JETS LAUNCH MISSILES ON BEIRUT AS COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT APPROACHES LANDING AT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT pic.twitter.com/SpGGnmepX2
Currently the US and UK have troops positioned in nearby Cyprus, ready to help if those countries order military-assisted evacuations.
