AHN Inside The Middle East: Evacuation Of Westeners Gathers Speed In Beirut
Komfie Manalo - All Headline News Foreign Correspondent Beirut, Lebanon (AHN) - Westerners fleeing the war-ravaged Beirut got a bit of relief as evacuation efforts picked up speed early Tuesday and governments of western nations rushed to the aid of their citizens trapped there. A French chartered boar t left Beirut to Cyprus carrying 800 French nationals and 400 individuals from Germany, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Spain, Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland. Reports also have a British warship also arriving in Beirut to ferry fleeing British nationals. Early Monday, an Italian ship docked in the port of Larnaca in Cypriot. The evacuation stepped up as Israeli forces continue to bombard Beirut for the seventh straight day and turned the capital into a virtual war zone. Lebanese officials have put the death toll among its citizens to 200 since the attacks were launched by the Israeli Defense Force. In Israel, 24 people have been confirmed killed by Hezbollah rocket attacks. A UN mission providing humanitarian assistance to fleeing residence said continuing land, sea and air strikes by Israelis were hampering evacuation efforts. Jan Egeland, top UN humanitarian official says, "It's already very bad, and it is deteriorating by the hour. Now it seems we are headed for another scenario where we will have to do a lot of rebuilding, a lot of humanitarian relief, a lot of life-saving relief" |
