How are countries evacuating citizens from Lebanon amid Israeli attacks?

As the conflict in the Middle East intensifies after Israeli attacks on Lebanon last month, countries are working to evacuate their citizens out of the conflict zone.

According to Reuters, Greek-administered Cyprus assisted in evacuations for China, Greece, Portugal and Slovakia.

Back in 2006, the island had been used to evacuate close to 60,000 people from Lebanon after the last serious escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Here is a list of countries evacuating its citizens and the route they are using:

TURKIYE

On Tuesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said navy ships would evacuate Turks who have applied to leave Lebanon by sea on Wednesday.

The ministry added that the two ships were expected to set off for Beirut on Tuesday with a total capacity of around 2,000 passengers.

It said the evacuation process will continue in the following days if necessary, adding that the ships carrying out the evacuation will also transport humanitarian aid to Lebanon.

CHINA

More than 200 Chinese citizens have been safely evacuated from Lebanon, China's foreign ministry said on Saturday.

“The Chinese Embassy in Lebanon remains firm in Lebanon and continues to assist Chinese citizens remaining there in taking security measures,” it said.

TAIWAN

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said three Taiwanese in Lebanon were expected to return to the island this month and that two others had opted to stay for family reasons.

According to Reuters, the ministry said another Taiwanese decided late last month to take a boat out of the country arranged by China.

China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its territory and considers the island's people to be Chinese citizens, a position the government in Taipei strongly objects to.

GERMANY

A total of 460 people have so far been flown out of Lebanon. Further flights are being prepared depending on requirements and the situation.

The German military on Wednesday flew 130 German citizens out of Lebanon. Unlike evacuation flights, flights as part of a diplomatic pick-up are not accompanied by armed soldiers.

Last week, a German military aircraft returned from Beirut to Berlin with staff from the German Embassy, along with their families and personnel from German intermediary organisations.

The aircraft landed in the evening with around 110 passengers on board, the Foreign Office confirmed.

SPAIN

Last Thursday, the Spanish government evacuated the first group of its citizens, bringing 250 people home on board two military planes which landed at the Torrejon air base east of the capital Madrid.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry claimed that the situation in Lebanon was so serious that part of the embassy staff will be airlifted out of Beirut on a second plane, leaving only a skeleton staff behind to carry out essential diplomatic work.

FRANCE

The French government has started evacuating its citizens, with the first group arriving on one of four flights that landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

The French embassy in Lebanon has reportedly negotiated two additional flights to Paris with the Lebanese national airline MEA.

Meanwhile, flag carrier Air France says it has suspended all passenger flights to Lebanon until at least October 8.

LATVIA/LITHUANIA

According to the Lithuanian Defence Minister, the armed forces evacuated 18 Lithuanian and eight Latvian citizens from Lebanon over the weekend.

He wrote on Facebook on Saturday: “The Lithuanian Armed Forces, together with the National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) and the Foreign Ministry, have just successfully evacuated Lithuanian citizens from Lebanon.

Among the evacuees, nine were minors, he added.

UNITED STATES

According to UPI, the State Department shared on Monday that around 900 Americans have been evacuated from Lebanon on US organised flights.

The State Department shared that the government has been chartering planes and reserving seats on flights out of the Middle Eastern country to aid citizens in their departure.

On September 27, the American embassy in Lebanon tweeted that they would not be evacuating US citizens.

“There is a commercially available flight that US citizens who expressed interest in departing Lebanon will have to book and pay directly with the airline,” the tweet read.

Available flights back to the US were costing around $5,000 to $8,000.

According to Reuters, last week the United States organised a flight from Beirut to Istanbul on Wednesday to allow Americans to leave Lebanon amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Miller told a press briefing that around 7,000 U.S. citizens in Lebanon had registered with the US government to receive information about leaving the country, although not all of those are looking for assistance to leave.

AUSTRALIA

According to an Australian news website, almost 350 Australian citizens and their families landed in Sydney on Tuesday.

“More than 3,700 Australians wanting to depart the increasingly unsafe Middle Eastern country are registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and 904 have already left Beirut Airport on assisted flights,” it shared.

On Saturday, some 229 people arrived on the east Mediterranean island, which lies a 40 minute flight time from Beirut, on a commercial airline chartered by Australia. A second flight was scheduled later in the day.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has advised citizens to leave Lebanon immediately.

The government is now offering financial assistance to some of its nationals.

The Australian ambassador to Lebanon, Andrew Barnes, tweeted and advised citizens to register with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade crisis portal to make arrangements to evacuate from Lebanon.

UNITED KINGDOM

According to the Guardian, a flight was chartered by the UK government for British nationals to leave Lebanon on Sunday, amid the growing conflict in the region.

The Foreign Office shared that so far more than 250 UK citizens have left Lebanon on government-chartered flights. The UK chartered a fourth flight to leave Beirut-Rafic Hariri airport in Beirut on Sunday.

The government has said that there were no further flights scheduled owing to “significantly reduced” demand, though it said it would keep the situation under constant review.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy advised nationals to leave Lebanon due to “the situation in Lebanon is volatile and getting worse”.

In a video shared on X, he said that the UK government is providing chartered flights out of Lebanon. The British government will arrange and fund chartered flights departing from Beirut international airport.

However, UK citizens will be required to pay a fee of $465 for each seat.

CANADA

More than 1,000 Canadians left Lebanon via special flights on Saturday. Canada has 6,000 signed up to leave and officials are trying to reach another 2,500 over the weekend, an official in Trudeau's office said, adding that more flights were being added for Monday and Tuesday.

ITALY

Around 178 Italian citizens were evacuated from Lebanon on Friday.

A special government-organised flight brought the evacuees safely back to Rome, marking the first official evacuation effort by Italy since the conflict in Lebanon escalated.

BELGIUM

According to a Belgian news agency, on Thursday, the country’s foreign ministry shared that they were going to help around a hundred compatriots to leave Lebanon via commercial flights or evacuation flights organised by other European countries. The ministry added that no Belgian-led military repatriation operation is being launched for the time being.

BRAZIL

On Monday, the Brazilian Air Force KC-30 took off from Beirut with 227 Brazilian citizens and their families, as well as three pets, rescued from Lebanon in the second stage of Operation Cedar Roots. The group includes 49 children (seven of which are infants).

Brazil, which says 3,000 nationals want to be repatriated, has sent an air force Airbus A330 for those seeking to leave. The plane was due to fly 220 people out of Beirut on Friday and make two flights a week.

DENMARK

Denmark has urged citizens to leave as soon as possible but said it had not initiated an evacuation as there were still commercial flights out of Lebanon.

Middle East Airlines will add extra flights from Beirut to European destinations to meet the demand for commercial travel outwards, the Danish foreign ministry said.

According to the Finnish Foreign Ministry, the country is in talks with Norway and Denmark about a possible joint evacuation operation to bring their citizens back from Lebanon, but no decision seems imminent.

JAPAN

Eleven Japanese and five foreign nationals left Lebanon for Jordan aboard Japan's C-2 military transport aircraft on Friday.

NETHERLANDS

According to AP, a Dutch military transport plane carrying 185 people evacuated from Lebanon landed on Friday night at an airbase in the southern city of Eindhoven. More than 100 of those on board the plane were Dutch citizens and Ireland.

The Netherlands is sending a military plane to repatriate nationals from Lebanon via two flights on Friday and Saturday, the Dutch Defense Ministry has said, adding that the flights to the military airbase in Eindhoven will also accommodate people from other countries if there is enough room.

POLAND

A plane carrying several dozens of Poles and citizens of other countries who wanted to leave Lebanon landed in Warsaw on Friday. Poland earlier said it would limit staff numbers at its Beirut embassy.

PORTUGAL

Prime Minister Luis Montenegro has advised against travel to Lebanon. A small number of Portuguese citizens living there have been evacuated.

ROMANIA

Romania evacuated 69 citizens from Lebanon in a military aircraft on Thursday, its foreign and defense ministries said. More than 1,100 Romanian citizens and their families registered their presence in Lebanon at the embassy, the foreign ministry said last week.

RUSSIA

Russia has started evacuating citizens from Lebanon, with families of its diplomats leaving on a special flight from Beirut on Thursday, its emergencies minister said. About 3,000 Russians and citizens of the Commonwealth of Independent States want to leave, the Tass news agency said.

SLOVAKIA

Slovakia has sent a military aircraft to fly Slovak and other citizens to Greek-administered Cyprus. Nine Hungarian citizens were evacuated with help from the Slovakian government.

SOUTH KOREA

According to Reuters, South Korean military aircraft have evacuated 97 citizens and family members from Lebanon, the country's foreign ministry said on Saturday.