More than 1,000 British military personnel are on standby to help evacuate UK nationals from Lebanon as fears grow that Israel’s war in Gaza will escalate into a wider regional conflict, Sky News understands.
Hundreds of soldiers, Royal Marine commandos, sailors and aviators have already been moved forward to bolster a key Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Cyprus, which would act as a hub in any evacuation mission.
Hundreds more servicemen and women are on alert in the UK to deploy to the region at short notice.
Expectations within Whitehall are mounting that Iran and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon, will imminently launch retaliatory strikes against Israel, which could prompt the Israeli government to order a wider assault on its neighbour Lebanon.
The two nations last went to war in 2006 – a crisis that triggered a previous mass UK evacuation mission by sea.
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Calls grow for foreigners to leave Lebanon
This time around, Whitehall officials have drawn up a range of contingency plans, including the use of two warships – HMS Duncan, a Type 45 destroyer, and RFA Cardigan Bay, a large support ship.
Both vessels are already in the region and could be sent to the Lebanese coast to help rescue thousands of UK nationals who are living in the country.
Royal Navy destroyer HMS Duncan in Istanbul in 2018. Pic: Reuters
Another option could be the deployment of RAF transport aircraft from RAF Akrotiri, in Cyprus, into Beirut – an operation that could be on a similar scale to the evacuation of British passport holders and eligible Afghans from the Afghan capital of Kabul after a Taliban takeover in 2021.
Alert to the crisis, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has for days been urging British nationals to leave Lebanon while commercial routes exist.
People at Beirut-Rafic Al Hariri International Airport, in Beirut, Lebanon. Pic: Reuters
A number of airlines have already been cancelling flights, however.
The situation has been precarious ever since Hezbollah militants and the Israel Defence Forces became locked in cross-border clashes after the 7 October attacks by Hamas, another Iran-backed militant group, prompted Israel to go to war in Gaza.
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Britons urged to leave Lebanon as Middle East tensions soar
Israel strikes Hezbollah targets ‘deep inside’ Lebanon
Tensions ramped up in late July when Israel accused Hezbollah of a rocket attack that hit a football pitch, killing 12 Israeli children and young people.
That strike prompted the Israeli military to take out a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon last week.
Within hours, the top political leader of Hamas was also assassinated while on a visit to Tehran – an attack that Iran and Hamas have blamed on Israel.
The Israeli authorities have neither confirmed nor denied the allegation publicly.
Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah have vowed revenge. Huge diplomatic efforts, led by the United States, have been under way, trying to prevent the explosion of a full-scale Middle East war.
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In April a wider crisis was averted when Iran for the first time launched a huge barrage of missiles and drones at Israel in response to an alleged Israeli attack on an Iranian consular building in Syria that killed a number of senior Iranian commanders.
Israel’s air defences, bolstered by the US, the UK and other allies, managed to destroy the vast majority of the projectiles fired by Iran.
Preparations are under way to defend Israel’s skies again but a two-pronged attack from Iran and Hezbollah could prove overwhelming.