WHEN the Royal Navy warships arrive off Lebanon on Wednesday, they will be ready to mount the biggest evacuation of British citizens since the Second World War.

Although the Government has not yet decided to issue a “national evacuation order”, HMS Illustrious, the aircraft carrier, and HMS Bulwark, a new commando assault ship, have been sent to the Lebanese coast. They will use their helicopters and landing craft to take thousands of trapped British citizens off the beaches in Beirut if the order to evacuate is given.

Royal Marine commandos on board HMS Illustrious and HMS Bulwark are preparing to establish a landing zone.

British nationals will be ferried off in landing craft and helicopters over several days. Those removed by ship are likely to be taken to Cyprus while negotiations continue to try to end the conflict. There are thought to be 10,000 British expatriates and 15,000 dual nationality residents in Lebanon, where ports are under an Israeli blockade and land routes have been closed by repeated bombings.

Officials were trying to identify a “much, much smaller number” who were the most vulnerable, Kim Howells, the Foreign Office Minister, said.

These might include the elderly, children, families with children, or people who were there alone, such as business travellers.

Dr Howells also said that “lots of others” would not want to move because they felt safer staying put.

Britain was “one of the lead nations” on evacuation plans and was working in co-operation with the United States and Australia.

US reconnaissance teams arrived in the Lebanese capital last night to assess plans to evacuate some 20,000 Americans from Beirut. Canada said that it was sending commercial ships to evacuate the 16,000 citizens who are registered with its embassy in Beirut.

Military planes evacuated 350 people to Cyprus yesterday. The evacuees, including Spaniards, Italians, Austrians, Czechs and Irish, were flown from Syria on Italian C130 military transport planes.

They had taken 15 hours to drive from Beirut to Damascus, Syria, using lengthy routes to bypass bomb- damaged highways.

France has chartered a cruise ship and a ferry that were expected to arrive in Beirut today to transport French and other European citizens to Cyprus.

Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, and British diplomats were flown to Beirut to seek assurances from the Israelis that they will not endanger the lives of EU citizens during an evacuation programme.

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