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Europeans evacuate Lebanon
15/07/2006 17:04 - (SA)
Paris - European nations lined up ferries, buses and airplanes to evacuate thousands of their citizens from Lebanon, increasingly under siege from Israeli attacks.
France, which has historic ties to Lebanon and 17 000 citizens residing there, announced plans on Saturday to ferry French nationals to Cyprus where Air France flights would be waiting to bring them to Paris.
The voluntary evacuations will begin Sunday. In addition to French residents, up to 6 000 other Europeans were estimated to be in Lebanon.
"We want to take all the necessary measures for the security of our citizens," Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said at the end of a crisis meeting on Saturday morning.
The government would evaluate the situation in Lebanon "hour by hour" and adapt measures if needed, he said. He did not raise the possibility of mandatory evacuations.
So far, no country is known to have ordered all of its citizens out of Lebanon.
A convoy of 410 Italians and others, mainly from the EU, packed up and fled on Saturday, travelling by land to Latakia, Syria.
They were boarding military flights to Rome, some going first to Cyprus, the head of the Italian Foreign Ministry's crisis unit, Elisabetta Belloni, said. More than 1 000 Italians remain in Lebanon.
Israeli warplanes struck Lebanon's transport routes and infrastructure for a fourth day on Saturday in response to the capture Wednesday of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah guerrillas who crossed the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Two Romanian lawmakers and their families also were evacuated to Syria on Saturday, cutting short a vacation. Nicolae Bara told private news television Realitatea TV that the group of 13 people were then going on to Turkey.
Another 160 Romanians requested to leave Lebanon, Romanian Ambassador Aurel Calin told Realitatea and the embassy in Beirut was looking for bus transport to Syria.
Germany, meanwhile, urged an estimated 1 100 German citizens in Lebanon to stay put but avoid unnecessary travel and stay away from potential Israeli targets such as airports and harbours.
Diplomats in Berlin were monitoring the situation closely, preparing for all possible scenarios, the Foreign Ministry said without elaborating.
European Union countries' embassies in Lebanon were reported to be in close contact.
Cyprus said Friday that it was prepared to help the EU with an evacuation plan.
"They have asked us for the facilities (ports and airports) in case this mission is conducted and it will concern all European citizens," Foreign Ministry official Sotos Zackheos said. "The government of Cyprus has given its consent."
Zackheos said France was looking at ways to coordinate EU efforts. No decision was known to have been reached.
The Greek government has said it had chartered an Olympic Airways plane and was ready to fly it to Jordan should any Greek or EU citizens ask to return home. The plane could leave on three hours' notice, the Greek Foreign Ministry said.
As early as Thursday, a group of 115 Cypriots and other foreign nationals, were bussed to Syria then evacuated to Cyprus.
The evacuees _-102 Cypriots, six Britons, four French, two Czechs and one American - made the journey out.
- AP
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