How would the UK evacuate British nationals out of Lebanon if the situation deteriorates?

There are two main plans to get the remaining Brits out of Lebanon should the situation deteriorate, as ITV News Political Correspondent Carl Dinnen explains

"Get out, now" is the message from the government to the 10,000 or so British nationals believed to be in Lebanon.

The clear preference in Whitehall is that people get out under their own steam while commercial flights are still an option.

Should the situation deteriorate, I'm told there are two main plans to get the remaining Brits out.

The first and best option is to use Beirut airport. In that case, the government would likely use charter planes and possibly some RAF transport aircraft.

But if the airport, or the area around it, is unsafe the second option is to get people out by sea (there is no viable overland route).

That is likely to involve a port further north, Tripoli is the most obvious possibility.

In that case, Cyprus is only half a day's sailing away and 700 military personnel have already been dispatched there to start preparing to receive evacuees at the UK sovereign bases.

The Royal Navy already has two vessels in the region. One is RFA Mounts Bay, a large logistics vessel that is said to be able to transport up to 700 military personnel.

But it also has a large cargo area which could take many more people on the short voyage to Cyprus.

The second is HMS Duncan, a state-of-the art destroyer that is considerably less roomy but has a helicopter hangar that could take people on a short trip.

Of course, if the UK is trying to evacuate nationals from Lebanon then the US, France, Germany and others will all be trying to do the same, meaning this will be a much bigger operation, and the Israelis will be under considerable pressure to keep Beirut airport open.

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