David Lammy, the UK’s foreign secretary, has announced that the British government has chartered a commercial flight out of Lebanon to assist British nationals wanting to leave due to the recent violence in the region. The flight is scheduled to leave Beirut on Wednesday. Vulnerable people will be given priority, and British nationals and their spouse or partner and children under the age of 18 are eligible to leave. The UK government will pay to charter the flight, but British nationals will be expected to pay a fee of £350 per seat.
Dependants who are not British nationals but are boarding the flight will require a visa to enter the UK for at least six months. The safety of British nationals in Lebanon continues to be the UK’s utmost priority, Lammy said in a statement. Further flights will depend on demand and the security situation on the ground. Speaking to reporters, Lammy urged British nationals to leave Lebanon due to the fast-moving situation on the ground.
Last week Sir Keir Starmer urged British nationals to leave Lebanon immediately after fighting intensified between Israel and Hezbollah, which dominates the country. Britons had previously been advised to book flights out of the country, but most airlines had cancelled flights except for the national carrier. The UK Ministry of Defence sent nearly 700 troops to nearby Cyprus to prepare for the possible evacuation of British nationals, and the government continues to advise against all travel to Lebanon.
Tensions have been growing across the Middle East since Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on 7 October last year, killing about 1,200 people while taking 251 others as hostages. The Israel military campaign in Gaza as a response to the Hamas attack has killed over 41,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Previously sporadic fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalated on 8 October, the day after Hamas’s unprecedented attack. Hezbollah has launched more than 8,000 rockets at northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights while attacking military targets with explosive drones and firing anti-tank missiles at armoured vehicles
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