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The German Foreign Office said on Monday it estimates that some 1,800 German nationals are currently in Lebanon as the country faces a massive escalation in the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.<\/p>\n
A Foreign Office spokesman said that about 1,800 people have registered on the ministry’s crisis preparedness list ELEFAND.<\/p>\n
The system enables Germans abroad to be quickly informed by German representatives in acute situations and included in possible crisis measures such as evacuations.<\/p>\n
Following almost a year of cross-border skirmishes, Israel launched a large-scale aerial campaign on targets across Lebanon last week.<\/p>\n
Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in Lebanon amid the fighting, according to Lebanese authorities.<\/p>\n
The international community is urging de-escalation amidst continued Israeli strikes and Hezbollah retaliations, but efforts for a ceasefire have so far been rejected by both sides.<\/p>\n
The German government’s crisis team assessed the situation in Lebanon on Friday and Saturday, the spokesman said.<\/p>\n
He said the Beirut airport was still open, although with drastically restricted flight operations, as well as the airport in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n
The ministry is assisting German nationals to leave the country, although he added that “we are not explicitly in an evacuation scenario.”<\/p>\n
The Foreign Office has raised the crisis levels for German missions in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Ramallah in the West Bank.<\/p>\n
This means that family members of the deployed staff will gradually be evacuated and the number of personnel will be reduced, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n