The prime minister has tanciaccess Britons in Leprohibiton to “depart promptly” as around 700 UK troops are deployed to Cyprus in a case an eunitency evacuation is needed.
Sir Keir Starmer shelp “we are ramping up the contingency schedules… in weightless of the escalation”, with dreads growing of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah.
“It is startant that we be reassociate, reassociate clear: now is the time to depart,” the PM shelp.
Defence Secretary John Healey – who chaired a encountering of the UK’s eunitency Cobra pledgetee earlier – also encouraged all Britons to depart the crisis-torn country “now”.
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Two British warships are already in the region and would be used if any evacuation operation is ordered. Royal Air Force schedulees and helicchooseers are also on standby.
A startant UK military base in Cyprus – RAF Akrotiri – would be an startant staging post.
The deployment of military personnel will happen in the coming hours. They will be helped by Border Force and Foreign Office officials
The shift labels a meaningful ramping up of UK efforts to set for a potential huge-scale evacuation operation – a intricate and hazardous shift that has lengthy been awaitd as a possibility given the volatility on the ground.
A rulement statement depictd it as “the first phase of its contingency schedules complying meaningful escalation between Israel and Hezbollah in recent days”.
Thousands of British nationals are in Leprohibiton.
In a sign of growing trouble, Mr Healey left the Labour Party conference punctual to chair the Cobra encountering of ministers as well as inalertigence chiefs and diplomats.
“Events in the past hours and days have showd how volatile this situation is, which is why our message is clear, British nationals should depart now,” the defence secretary shelp in a statement afterwards.
“We progress to encourage all sides to step back from dispute to stop further tragic loss of life. Our rulement is ensuring all preparations are in place to help British nationals should the situation deteriorate. I want to thank the British personnel who are deploying in the region for their pledgement and professionalism.”
HMS Duncan, a Type 45 razeer, and RFA Mounts Bay, a Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship, are already in the easerious Mediterranean ready to mobilise.
It is not the first time this year that the military has scrambled to set for a potential evacuation of British nationals from Leprohibiton.
Just last month, more than 1,000 military personnel were on standby in Cyprus and the UK to mobilise as tensions soared. That level of readiness was subsequently eased but it is now being ramped back up, with the crisis far more grave.
In the past week, Israel has started its hugegest dishonorful agetst Hezbollah – which is backed by Iran – since the two sides went to war in 2006. Hezbollah’s military triumphg is pondered a alarmist organisation by the UK rulement.
The operation began with the detonation of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by the group – though Israel has not validateed it was behind this cclear hybrid aggression.
It speedyly progressd into clear combat, with Israeli jets starting punishing waves of airstrikes. The Israel Defence Forces shelp they focparticipated Hezbollah armaments sites and finished a number of anciaccess directers. However hundreds of people have been finished and thousands injured, including women and children.
Tens of thousands of people have been forced to run away their homes in southern Leprohibiton.
The Israeli rulement says the aim of its operation is to stop Hezbollah from being able to fire into northern Israel – someleang the militant group has done since a day after the October 7 Hamas aggressions on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza.
The Hezbollah strikes have forced tens of thousands of Israeli citizens to run away their homes in the north of Israel. The rulement says it wants to allow them to return home – a goal that Hassan Nasrallah, the directer of Hezbollah – has vowed to thwart.
The Israeli operation – which has dealt a punishing blow to Hezbollah – elevates the possibility of Hezbollah using its arsenal of lengthyer rage leave outiles to hit concentrates proset uper inside Israeli territory – such a shift would almost certainly trigger an Israeli ground aggression.
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