Spain plans to send two military aircraft to evacuate as many as 350 Spanish citizens from Lebanon as early as Thursday, the country’s Defence Minister Margarita Robles said on Wednesday.
‘The Spanish airplanes are ready, the staff are ready, as always with the professionalism of the Spanish army,’ she said in an interview with Antena 3 TV station.
A group of 350 Spanish citizens present in Lebanon have asked to go to Spain, Robles said in the interview.
Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares had said earlier this week around 1,000 Spanish citizens were in Lebanon.
On Tuesday, Albares had said, ‘We insist that the ground incursion should be halted, as we’re receiving very worrying information’, adding that it was ‘necessary to reach a truce in Lebanon and a ceasefire in Gaza’.
Albares also condemned Hezbollah’s rocket attacks on Israeli territory. He said the only way to achieve peace in the Middle East was if belligerents complied with international humanitarian law and respected the protections accorded to civilians.
Israel was then hit on Tuesday evening by rockets launched from Iran following a ground incursion of the Israeli armed forces into south Lebanon where they clashed with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
The operation followed intense air strikes that have devastated Hezbollah’s leadership, including longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in Beirut last week.
Beside the 1,000 Spanish residents in Lebanon, Spain has commanded the United Nations’ Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and deployed 650 troops along the southern Lebanese border with Israel, since 2022.
La ministra de Defensa en @EspejoPublico: “Si las condiciones del espacio aéreo lo permiten, mañana saldrán 2 aviones del @EjercitoAire a Beirut para evacuar a unas 350 personas que desean regresar a España. Trabajamos junto al Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores”. pic.twitter.com/Pb85xbvjDJ
— Ministerio Defensa (@Defensagob) October 2, 2024
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