According to CNN, British Prime Minister has instructed all UK nationals in Lebanon to "leave immediately"
Sir Keir Starmer warned, "We are potentially at a brink" of all-out war and the situation is deteriorating "rapidly, with devastating consequences."
Military Preparations
700 troops being sent to Cyprus to prepare for possible evacuation. They will join 500 military personnel already there as part of contingency plans.
There are already two British warships in the region and Royal Air Force planes and helicopters are on standby.
The British Ministry of Defense (MoD) has strongly advised against all travel to Lebanon. There are an estimated 10,000 UK citizens currently in Lebanon. At this time, there are still commercial flights still available, but that could change soon.
UK scrambling to prevent a repeat of what happened in 2021 with their Afghanistan evacuation
The UK's evacuation from Afghanistan in August 2021 was a chaotic and traumatic event that unfolded as the Taliban rapidly took control of the country.
As Kabul fell on August 15, the British government scrambled to evacuate its citizens, Afghan allies, and eligible Afghans.
Thousands of people attempted to flee. Although British forces, alongside other NATO allies, worked around the clock, the evacuation faced numerous challenges, including crowd control, processing evacuees, and the constant threat of terrorist attacks.
On August 26, a suicide bombing near the airport killed 13 U.S. service members and at least 169 Afghans. Despite these obstacles, the UK managed to evacuate over 15,000 people in just two weeks.
However, the operation was widely criticized for being poorly planned and executed, with many eligible individuals left behind. The trauma of the evacuation was compounded by the moral injury felt by many British personnel who were forced to make impossible decisions about who to save.
In light of this, Starmer's urging makes even more sense, as Britons are still scarred by what happened and no one wants to see a repeat of those dreadful times.
Starmer has urged de-escalation while UK's Defense Secretary John Healey wants "all sides to step back from conflict," while the BBC's Bowen says that, "Israel is gambling Hezbollah will crumple but it faces a well-armed, angry enemy."
