Britons have told the BBC they are working to leave Lebanon, with Sir Keir Starmer renewing his call for British nationals to leave.
The UK has urged British nationals to leave immediately as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continues to escalate.
Speaking to BBC News, the Prime Minister said Britons still in the UK should: “Leave now. It’s very important.”
But some people told the BBC they were experiencing difficulties getting their flights off.
Sir Keir is interviewed by BBC political editor Chris Mason at the United Nations in New York Said that the situation in Lebanon was escalating and urged British people to leave the country immediately and not wait to evacuate.
“I say to British nationals, don’t wait. Leave now,” he said.
“As you would expect, we are ramping up our evacuation contingency plans. But my message is, don’t wait. There are still commercial flights taking off.”
The prime minister said he would not detail evacuation plans but emergency measures were in place.
The British government has sent about 700 additional military personnel to Cyprus in case an emergency evacuation is needed.
“All parties need to pull back from the edge to de-escalate the situation,” he added, calling for a ceasefire.
But Britons in Lebanon spoke of the difficulties of leaving the country.
When BBC News visited Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, the country’s only civilian airport, most flights were canceled as international airlines suspended flights to and from the city.
Middle East Airlines, Iraqi Airways and Iran Air are the only ones still operating.
Chloe LewinChloe Lewin, 24, from London, told BBC News she would be taking a flight out of Lebanon on Friday.
“Keir Starmer is telling everyone to get out but we can’t,” she said.
“You can’t go out this week because they [flights] All are full and every time you get to the last page of booking it crashes and says you can’t book a flight.
“Then everyone I knew who had been on flights was cancelled.
“My friends were due to leave this morning on EgyptAir but the flight was canceled so they couldn’t leave.”
Speaking of her other British friends in Lebanon, she said they felt helpless and were waiting to be evacuated.
She said the British embassy told Britons to “get out”, adding: “They’re not helping us, so there’s nothing we can do. There’s nothing we can do.”
The freelance journalist, who has lived in Beirut since January 2023, described the atmosphere in the part of the city where she lives as calm but also “scary, because you never know what will happen next”.
Speaking about how difficult it is for people to leave Lebanon, she said: “I want to stay, but I’m leaving…
“Even though we are technically expats and we are not from here, people live here. People have jobs here. People have spent seven years, two years here.
“It’s not as simple as leaving.”
Isabella Ada Baker said she was too scared to go to Beirut airport and decided to travel to Tripoli in the north of the country before continuing by boat to Turkey.
“I’m at a friend’s house in Tripoli. We hope the boat will leave at six or seven in the afternoon,” said the student, who is studying for a master’s degree in human rights at a French university in Beirut.
“I was with a Spanish and Swiss friend.
“I’m going to stay with my family in Turkey until we decide what to do next.”
Describing life in Lebanon after the pager attacks, she said she heard drones and sonic booms.
She said she sympathized with Lebanese and immigrants who did not have the privilege to leave the country.
Other Britons decided to stay in Lebanon for the time being.
Anne Bouji, who has lived in the country for the past seven years, said she would live with her partially paralyzed Lebanese husband, who does not have a British passport or visa.
“He really didn’t want to leave and he had his sister and sister-in-law and their kids, so I guess I was trapped,” she told me BBC Radio 4’s World as One program.
She said if the couple were able to travel, she would not be able to withdraw her money due to the situation with Lebanese banks and would have to “make money from scratch” in the UK.
She added that the east side of Beirut, where she lives, was “relatively safe” but in other parts of the city people were “very scared and you could taste the fear in the air”.
Clementine Brown, a British expat living in Beirut and co-director of an organization that helps young people gain tech skills, told BBC News that she heard the bomb at midnight even though her area was considered safe , but she didn’t realize it.
Asked if she would consider leaving, she said: “If there is an evacuation and embassy staff are asked to leave, then that is a good signal to leave. But we are taking it every day.”
Alistair, a Briton who has lived in Lebanon for 10 years, said: “We hope that sanity will prevail and that peace will prevail at some point.”
ReutersSir Kiir addressed the UN Security Council and called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
“The region is on the verge of collapse,” he said, adding that a political plan was needed to allow Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return home.
The British Foreign Office stated that the situation in Lebanon is deeply worrying and the risk of escalation remains high.
“That is why we continue to advise people to leave immediately 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 UK nationals if required.”
Officials say Britain already has a significant diplomatic and military presence near Lebanon, including the Royal Air Force Base Akrotiri in Cyprus and two Royal Navy ships, RFA Mounts Bay and HMS Duncan, which have been in the eastern Mediterranean this summer.
The Royal Air Force also has aircraft and helicopters on standby.
Tensions have been rising throughout the Middle East since Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7 last year, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
Previously sporadic fighting between Israel and the armed group Hezbollah escalated on October 8, the day after the unprecedented attack by Hamas. Hezbollah fired on Israeli positions in solidarity with Hamas.
Hezbollah, listed as a terrorist organization by Britain and other countries, has fired more than 8,000 rockets into northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. It also fires anti-tank missiles at armored vehicles and attacks military targets with explosive drones.
Last week, Hezbollah communications equipment began exploding across Lebanon.
Israel launched a series of air strikes on Monday that have so far killed 560 people, according to the Lebanese government.
Additional reporting by Rozina Sini, UGC Center
