Foreigners evacuated from Lebanon

BEIRUT – A host of countries were evacuating their nationals from Lebanon yesterday as Israeli air strikes pounded the country for a sixth day.

As Europeans crowded outside their embassies, the European Union urged Israel to guarantee the safety of tens of thousands of EU citizens in Lebanon. Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja of Finland, which holds the EU presidency, told reporters: “Several times I have been in touch with the Israeli minister and urged them to give clear guarantees these people are not endangered.”Many of the evacuees were expected to arrive in the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, about 85 km west of Lebanon, from where a 1 300-capacity ferry chartered by France headed to the waters off Beirut yesterday.A former French colony, Lebanon is home to 17 000 French residents and up to another 5 000 French visiting the country.Hundreds of French nationals gathered near the French embassy in Beirut yesterday waiting to be taken by bus to board the ferry.Fouad Jawad, a 17-year-old student, burst into tears at the sound of the loud blasts of Israeli missiles bombing Hizbollah’s stronghold in a Beirut suburb to the south.”Our family are still there, were are afraid that something happened to them.They have not been answering their phones,” Jawad said as he waited outside the embassy.Mohammed Koubaissi, 40, a businessman taking his family to safety, said: “No one cares about Arab lives.Having a European nationality is like a pass from hell to heaven.”An Italian military ship also left Larnaca for Lebanon yesterday.An Italian embassy official in Nicosia said: “The situation is very flexible.We should have 200 Italians plus 120 non-Italians.This is our second operation, we took away 450 people on Saturday and Sunday via Syria by plane.”Britain evacuated around 40 people from Beirut by military helicopter on Monday and Royal Navy warships moved towards the coast for a possible evacuation of about 10 000 British passport holders.- Nampa-ReutersForeign Minister Erkki Tuomioja of Finland, which holds the EU presidency, told reporters: “Several times I have been in touch with the Israeli minister and urged them to give clear guarantees these people are not endangered.”Many of the evacuees were expected to arrive in the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, about 85 km west of Lebanon, from where a 1 300-capacity ferry chartered by France headed to the waters off Beirut yesterday.A former French colony, Lebanon is home to 17 000 French residents and up to another 5 000 French visiting the country.Hundreds of French nationals gathered near the French embassy in Beirut yesterday waiting to be taken by bus to board the ferry.Fouad Jawad, a 17-year-old student, burst into tears at the sound of the loud blasts of Israeli missiles bombing Hizbollah’s stronghold in a Beirut suburb to the south.”Our family are still there, were are afraid that something happened to them.They have not been answering their phones,” Jawad said as he waited outside the embassy.Mohammed Koubaissi, 40, a businessman taking his family to safety, said: “No one cares about Arab lives.Having a European nationality is like a pass from hell to heaven.”An Italian military ship also left Larnaca for Lebanon yesterday.An Italian embassy official in Nicosia said: “The situation is very flexible.We should have 200 Italians plus 120 non-Italians.This is our second operation, we took away 450 people on Saturday and Sunday via Syria by plane.”Britain evacuated around 40 people from Beirut by military helicopter on Monday and Royal Navy warships moved towards the coast for a possible evacuation of about 10 000 British passport holders.- Nampa-Reuters