Britons ‘stuck’ in Lebanon as Sir Keir Starmer says ‘leave now’

Britons have told the BBC they are struggling to get out of Lebanon, as Sir Keir Starmer repeats his call for UK nationals to leave.

The UK has urged British nationals to leave immediately because of the escalation in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Speaking to BBC News, the prime minister said Britons still in the country should: “Leave now. It’s very important.”

The UK and allied nations have called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon “to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement”.

Speaking to the BBC’s political editor Chris Mason at the UN in New York, Sir Keir said the situation in Lebanon was escalating and he urged Britons to “leave now” without waiting for an evacuation.

The prime minister said he would not go into detail about evacuation plans, but contingency measures were in place.

The government has sent about 700 additional military personnel to Cyprus in case an emergency evacuation is required.

Britons in Lebanon have spoken of their difficulty in leaving the country.

BBC News understands there are between 4,000 and 6,000 UK nationals including dependents in Lebanon.

When the BBC visited Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport, the only civilian airport in the country, most flights were cancelled after international airlines suspended flights to and from the city.

Middle East Airlines, as well Iraqi Airways and Iran Air, are the only companies still operating at the moment.

Chloe Lewin, 24, from London, told BBC News she was due to get a flight out of Lebanon on Friday.

“Keir Starmer’s telling everyone to get out but we can’t,” the freelance journalist, who has lived in Beirut since January 2023, said.

“You can’t get out this week because they’re [flights] all full and every time you get to the last page of the booking, it just crashes and it says you can’t book a flight.

She added: “My friends were meant to leave this morning on Egyptair – that got cancelled, so they can’t get out. “

Isabella Baker said she was too scared to go to the airport in Beirut and had decided to head to Tripoli in the north of the country to stay with a friend and then continue by boat to Turkey.

The student, who had been studying for a masters degree in human rights at a French university in Beirut, described hearing drones and sonic booms over the city following the pagers attack.

Emma Bartholomew, who splits her time between London and Beirut, is booked on a flight home to London next week.

She described a gridlock on the roads from ambulances on the day of the pager explosions and Israeli jets flying low over her hotel, where hundreds of displaced people have arrived from the city’s southern suburbs.

“There’s an intense sense of anticipation and anxiety amongst Lebanese people,” she said.

A woman stuck in a town outside Beirut with a British spousal visa and Biometric Residence Permit said she hadn’t heard from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) since August to register her to leave in case of emergency.

Rita, who asked we only use her first name, told BBC Radio 4’s the World Tonight that she was booked on a commercial flight departing next week, but was eligible to leave on a British evacuation flight.

Her British husband and two sons are in London and have encouraged her to flee over land.

The FCDO said it had asked British nationals to let the UK government know they were in Lebanon through its Register Your Presence service.

Other Britons have decided to stay in Lebanon for the time being.

Anne Bouji, who has lived in the country for the last seven years, said she was going to stay with her partially paralysed Lebanese husband who does not have a British passport or visa.

She told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme “it was relatively safe” on the eastern side of Beirut where she lives, but in other parts of the city people were “very afraid and you can taste the fear in the air”.

Hayat Fakhoury, a British-Lebanese dual national, said she would leave the country only “if it becomes completely unsafe everywhere”.

Speaking to The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4, she said the possibility of an Israeli ground invasion in Lebanon was “definitely something” she feared.

Earlier, Sir Keir, addressing the UN Security Council, said the region was “on the brink” as he called for an immediate ceasefire.

The FCDO said the situation in Lebanon was deeply concerning and the risk of escalation remained high.

“That’s why we are continuing to advise people to leave now while commercial routes remain available,” a statement said.

“The government is planning for a range of scenarios and is prepared to provide additional support to British nationals if required.”

It has also said it was sending £5m to UNICEF to support humanitarian efforts.

Officials say the UK already has a significant diplomatic and military presence close to Lebanon, including RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus and two Royal Navy ships – RFA Mounts Bay and HMS Duncan – which have been in the eastern Mediterranean over the summer.

The Royal Air Force also has planes and helicopters on standby.

Tensions have been growing across the Middle East since Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on 7 October last year, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others as hostages.

Previously sporadic fighting between Israel and armed group Hezbollah escalated on 8 October – the day after Hamas’s unprecedented attack. Hezbollah fired at Israeli positions, in solidarity with Hamas.

Hezbollah, proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK and other countries, has launched more than 8,000 rockets at northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. It has also fired anti-tank missiles at armoured vehicles and attacked military targets with explosive drones.

Last week Hezbollah’s communication devices started exploding across Lebanon.

Israel then launched a series of air strikes on Monday that have so far killed 569 people according to the Lebanese government.

Additional reporting by Rozina Sini, UGC Hub