UK to deploy 700 troops to Cyprus
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that 700 troops will be sent to the UK's sovereign bases in Cyprus to support the potential evacuation of British citizens from Lebanon.
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Prime Minister Starmer, who set off for New York to attend the 79th United Nations (UN) General Assembly, made statements to journalists accompanying him on the plane.
Reiterating the call for British citizens in Lebanon to leave the country immediately, Starmer expressed his concern regarding the situation in the region.
Emphasizing the need to be clear about de-escalation and establishing a ceasefire between the parties, Starmer called on Israel and Lebanon to step back from the brink.
Pointing out that the British government has accelerated contingency plans to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon, Starmer announced that the Ministry of Defence would send 700 troops to its sovereign bases in Cyprus for potential evacuations.
Two British warships are already stationed off the coast of Southern Cyprus and will be utilized should any evacuation operation order be given. Aircraft and helicopters belonging to the British Royal Air Force are also being kept on standby.
The UK maintains two bases on the island of Cyprus with "sovereign base" status: Akrotiri and Dhekelia.
558 PEOPLE KILLED IN ATTACKS ON LEBANON
Since the morning of September 23, the Israeli army has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Lebanon, targeting the Bekaa and Baalbek regions as well as southern cities.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced that 558 people, including 50 children and 95 women, were killed in the attacks, and 1,835 people were injured.
The wave of migration from the southern regions of the country toward the capital, Beirut, and the north continues.
The Lebanese Ministry of Education announced that education has been suspended nationwide, while the Ministry of Interior announced that schools in the south of the country have been opened to shelter citizens displaced by the Israeli attacks.
According to a statement from Rambam Hospital, the largest medical complex in Israel's Haifa region, 11 people with minor injuries were brought to the hospital due to panic or shrapnel wounds caused by rockets fired from Lebanon on September 22-23. In the city of Nahariya in northern Israel, 9 people were slightly injured.
According to a report by the Haaretz newspaper, 1 person died and 1 person was seriously injured in a traffic accident caused by panic while air raid sirens were sounding in the Lower Galilee region on September 22.