US Evacuation Teams In Lebanon
The US security teams in charge of organizing an evacuation of Americans from Lebanon have arrived in country and are at the US embassy there.
Two helicopters flew in from over the Mediterranean and landed on the embassy grounds, located on a fortified hilltop in the north Beirut suburb of Aukar, witnesses said.
"The arrival of the teams is an important first step in facilitating the safe departure of Americans who want to leave Lebanon," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.
It said the teams would arrange for "secure transportation for American citizens who wish to depart Lebanon." There are an estimated 25,000 Americans living or working in Lebanon, but U.S. officials said they assume that far fewer would choose to leave.
The United States said Saturday it was working on a plan to evacuate American citizens from Lebanon to the neighboring island of Cyprus.
Of course, evacuation is complicated by the fact that the Beirut airport is closed due to Israeli airstrikes. One thing we can be sure of is that the Israelis will give these people safe passage. I'd be worried about Hezbollah.
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Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » As I Suspected — Wednesday, 19 July , 2006 @ 3:39 pm
