Leave Lebanon, UK tells its nationals as strife deepens

Britain is moving troops to Cyprus in position to help evacuate nationals trapped in Lebanon, while Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called for diplomacy and an immediate ceasefire.

After Israeli airstrikes brought Lebanon’s deadliest day since the end of a 1975-1990 civil war, Starmer told British citizens to leave while there were still commercial flights. “It’s very important that they hear my message, which is to leave and to leave immediately,” he told reporters.

The government said in a statement late on Tuesday that 700 troops would travel to Cyprus, bolstering its presence in the area where it already has two Royal Navy ships, aircraft and transport helicopters.