How to evacuate a country

As fighting continues between Israel and Hezbollah, planning for a potential evacuation of British nationals from Lebanon has seen troops, ships and aircraft preparing in Cyprus and the wider region. Defence Secretary John Healey has chaired meetings in London to avoid the government being caught on the hop as happened before the evacuation from Kabul in 2021, following the unexpected collapse of the Afghan National Army.

UK tabloids are already screaming about a ‘Dunkirk-style’ amphibious evacuation should an air extraction route become unavailable. This comparison is misleading. Naval planners had only seven days before launching the miraculous evacuation of 330,000 members of the British Expeditionary Force in 1940 under ferocious German attack. Evacuation plans of perhaps 6,500 Britons and dual nationals left in Lebanon have been in place for years. Any evacuation will only be possible with the consent, explicit or tacit, of the two sides and assistance of the Lebanese government. Moreover, there is extensive UK government planning for and experience of civilian and military evacuations.