David Lammy considers plans to evacuate Britons from Lebanon as Israel conflict escalates

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

David Lammy is looking at contingency plans to evacuate UK nationals from Lebanon as tensions rise in the Middle East.

The foreign secretary has already urged Brits to leave the country amid the conflict with Israel.

Ministers are keen to avoid a repeat of the chaotic scenes three years ago when as Britons attempted to flee Afghanistan as the Taliban took over the country.

Mr Lammy has urged people to leave Lebanon “while commercial options remain” warning that the situation “could deteriorate rapidly”.

On Friday Hezbollah launched more than 140 rockets into Israel in the wake of fresh airstrikes on southern Lebanon by the Israeli military – with Beirut warning the conflict is spiralling out of control.

The fresh wave of conflict was triggered earlier this week when a suspected Israeli attack blew up Hezbollah radios and pagers, killing 37 people and wounding at least 3,000 others.

The Lebanese economy minister Amin Salam has said the last week has been “very intense” and predicted that escalation of the conflict is likely.

He told the BBC’s World Service: “We are looking at escalation by the hour on the war front. After what happened in the past 48 hours, it has really gone out of control.”

On Thursday night, Mr Lammy said he had spoken to the Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati and “expressed my deep concern over rising tensions and civilian casualties in Lebanon”.

The two had discussed “the need for a negotiated solution to restore stability and security” across the border between Israel and Lebanon, he said.

MPs accused the government of being “missing in action” during the Afghan crisis in 2021.

Dominic Raab, the then Tory foreign secretary, was heavily criticised for his actions during the drive to get people out of the country as the Taliban moved in.

He was demoted from foreign secretary to justice secretary just weeks after the botched evacuation.

The Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said that Afghan allies and British troops had been let down by “deep failures of leadership” Mr Raab and Sir Philip Barton, the permanent under secretary at the Foreign Office both remained on holiday as Kabul fell.

In a damning report the commitee also said there had a “total absence of a plan” for Afghans who supported the British mission, despite the UK knowing for 18 months that the evacuations may be necessary if the US withdrew its troops.

At the time Mr Lammy said the scramble to leave had damaged the UK’s reputation.