Turkey, Belgium, Bulgaria join countries calling on their citizens to leave Lebanon

Turkey and Belgium joined a number of countries calling on their citizens to leave Lebanon as cross-border violence with Israel intensifies and Bulgaria continues to evacuate its countrymen.

The Belgian foreign ministry tells the Belga news agency that Belgian citizens should leave Lebanon as soon as possible.

Meanwhile a Bulgarian government jet departs for Beirut for the second day to pick up the remaining Bulgarian citizens who wanted to be evacuated, the prime minister says.

Dimitar Glavchev says 61 Bulgarians had asked to be evacuated on the second trip. A total of 89 people, mostly families with children, were evacuated from Lebanon yesterday. Glavchev says that empty seats on Tuesday’s flight will be offered to citizens of other EU countries.

Turkey’s foreign ministry says it is ready to carry out a possible evacuation of Turks from Lebanon via air and sea, and is working with around 20 countries on preparing for a possible evacuation of foreign nationals via Turkey.

It says a coordination center has been set up to handle evacuation requests in line with the plans made by Turkish institutions.

“The guidelines for the evacuation of foreign nationals via our country have also been set. The necessary preparations are being carried out with around 20 countries that have requested support so far,” it says.