Possible U.K. evac from Lebanon

Say, I just had a thought. The Chinese have an embassy in Beirut, don't they? And the chances are there are some Chinese nationals in Lebanon. I wonder what China's escape plan is, unless their embassy has already been cleared out.

Heres more on the evac situation:



The first British nationals - at least 60 - have been evacuated. The other warships have arrived off the coast as well. (Sorry for double posting, but it seems people aren't paying attention to this thread). Heres the article:



I'm paying attention! bd popeye moderator

Oh how I hate these dubious historical comparisons !!

Reuters report on Lebanon

“[UK] Ministers have said the evacuation of around 12,000 British nationals and another 10,000 dual nationals, would be an operation on a scale not seen since the World War Two evacuation of more than 300,000 troops from Dunkirk and surrounding beaches in 1940..”

Er guys, yes, apart from the minor differences :

1. 22,000 people is 7.3% of the Dunkirk problem of 300,000
2. There are not lots of bad guys in Stukas and PzIIs trying to disrupt said evacuation – i.e. it is not an opposed evacuation

i.e. we are still not seeing an operation on the same scale as Dunkirk !

Sigh sigh sigh

Oh I am sure these media comparisons can go further...

From our Ace Foreign Correspondant Phillipa Timeslot in Beirut. "Yes just like our brave boys in 1940, I spent a difficult last night at the BeachFront Hotel awaiting evac. I also experienced the same feeling of loss and despair our boys must have felt as they were forced to abandon their tanks, guns and ammunition to the enemy, as I realised in the panic to get out that I had left my Gucci vanity bag and designer comestics in the hotel, to be taken as spoils by a heartless enemy......."

And from Phil Airtime ..... "at first the sound of the Isreali Bombing of Southern Beirut was very faint, but after turning up the volume on the TV in our Airconditioned Hotel Lounge in Damascus, tuned into CNN, I can tell you that the bombs now sound very loud and close indeed.......


Actually I love the media..... honest!!

DPRKPTboat said:

The first British nationals - at least 60 - have been evacuated.

Click to expand...

I pointed that out yesterday on page 2.

The USS Iwo Jima strike group is being sent to Lebanon to evacuate Americans and others from the country. Two CH-53 helos from the 24 MEU are now evacuating Americans from Beriut.

Departure of American Citizens from Lebanon
Story Number: NNS060718-02
Release Date: 7/18/2006 9:27:00 AM

From Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet Public Affairs

MANAMA, Bahrain (NNS) -- U.S. Sailors and Marines from the USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) have been directed to assist in the authorized departure of American citizens from Lebanon.

The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon has requested military assistance to help American citizens who wish to depart Lebanon to leave in a secure and orderly manner. Commander, Task Force 59, Marine Brig. Gen. Carl Jensen, is in Cyprus directing military efforts to provide support to the Embassy.

The ESG and MEU are operating in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations and expect to be in place to provide assistance later this week.

The Iwo Jima Strike Group includes the amphibious ships Iwo Jima, USS Nashville (LPD 13) and USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41). USS Trenton (LPD 14) and High Speed Vessel Swift (HSV 2) have also joined the strike group.

The 24th MEU (special operations capable), commanded by Marine Col. Ron Johnson, is composed of its command element, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines; Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 365 (Reinforced) and the MEU Service Support Group 24.

CH-53E helicopters from the 24th MEU operating from Cyprus have assisted 68 American citizens in departing Lebanon July 16-17. The helicopters are currently continuing those transportation flights.

For more news from around the fleet, visit

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Click to expand...

Heres an in depth article on the U.K evacuation, which contains info on logistics, plans and the ships and aircraft involved. Sorry, but it contains another small Dunkirk comparison, but luckily thats not in depth as well:

DPRKPTboat sez;

Sorry, but it contains another small Dunkirk comparison,

Click to expand...

Sorry is right Boat... I don't know how the UK press can even think to compare this to Dunkirk. Not even close. How dare they...Trouble is most of the folks that were in Dunkirk are well dead....Dunkirk was a massive operation conducted in a 100% combat enviroment.

This operation does not even compare to "Operation Frequent Wind" on April 29, 1975. I was there at Frequent Wind on board the USS Hancock(CVA-19)
1,373 U.S. citizens and 5,595 Vietnamese and third country nationals were evacuated by military and Air America helicopters to U.S. Navy ships off-shore in an approximately 24-hour period on April 29-30, 1975, immediately preceding the fall of Saigon.

Here's a list of ships that participated in Frequent Wind. All most all picked of refugees; Enterprise and Coral Sea aircraft provided air cover for the operation. These two ships picked up zero refugees.

USS ENTERPRISE (CVAN-65)
USS HANCOCK (CVA-19)
USS ROWAN (DD-782)
USS HENRY B. WILSON (DD-782)
USS WORDEN (DLG-18)
USS RATHBURNE (DE- 1057)
USS COOK (DE-1083)
USS BAUSELL (DD-845)
USS JOHN PAUL JONES (DDG-32)
USS KNOW (DE-1052)
USS REASONER (DE- 1063)
USS RAMSEY (DEG-2)
USS BLUE RIDGE (LCC-19)
USS DULUTH (LPD-6)
USS THOMASTON (LSK-28)
USS FREDERICK (LST-1 184)
USS DURHAM (LKA-114)
USS DUBUQUE (LPD-8)
USS ANCHORAGE (LSD-36)
USS TUSCALOOSA (LST- 1187)
USS FLINT (AE-32)
USS ABNAKI (ATF-96)
USS PRAIRIE (AD-15)
USS VEGA (AF-59)
USS QUAPAW (ATF-110)
USS CORAL SEA (CV-43)
USS MIDWAY (CV-41)
USS RICHARD B. ANDERSON (DD-786)
USS BENJAMIN STODDARD (DDG-22)
USS BRONSTEIN (DE-1037)
USS LANG (DE-1060)
USS GURKE (DD-783)
USS COCHRANE (DDG-21)
USS GRIDLEY (DLG-21)
USS MEYERKORD (DE-1058)
USS KIRK (DE-1087)
USS OKLAHOMA CITY (CLG-5)
USS MOBILE (LKA-115)
USS DENVER (LPD-9)
USS MOUNT VERNON (LSD-39)
USS BARBOUR COUNTY (LST-1195)
USS VANCOUVER (LPD-2)
USS OKINAWA (LPH-3)
USS PEORIA (LST-1183)
USS HAKEAKALA (AE-25)
USS MARS (AFS-1)
USS ASHTABULA (AO-15)
USS MOUNT HOOD (AE-29)
USS WHITE PLAINS (AFS-4)
USS KAWISHIWI (AO-146)

I agree with you - the scale is much smaller, so its ridiculous to say that this is the same as the fall of Saigon or operation Dyanmo. Its kind of like how people now compare Iraq to Vietnam. But the media loves exaggeration.
Certainly this is a smaller operation - but i think it will be just as rapid and desperate, because the Israeli army isn't going to stay outside Lebanon forever. Its likely Lebanese refugees will try to hitch a ride on the foreign helicopters leaving Beirut. So that will increase the amount of people being evacuated considerably. And the people being evacuated will want to get out quickly.

You know what this is gonna mean-A whole bunch more Lebanese people living in the US and EU. Its not that I don't like Lebanese people. To the contrary;I really like the Lebanese people I know and consider Lebanon to be the most cosmopolitan, tolerant, democratic and (until recently) safe country in the Middle East. That said, I was pointing out that most major evacuations like this result in a lot of people from the evacuated country ending up in the evacuee (is that the right word?) country. For example, the Vietnamese population of the US went from almost zero before the Vietnam War to a lot (I don't know any specific numbers) after.

I certainly hope that Hezbollah or some rouge guerilla does not decide to take potshots at the infidels in the helicopters. The political ramifications of that would be huge.

HMS Gloucester has evacuated 180 more people, again those who have children or an illness. But there are still thousands more British in Beirut. This example shows you something - Israel gave us a limited time window for Gloucester to come in - as we thought, the blockade is making things difficult...
You've got that right Finn. There sure will be a lot of Lebanese refugees taking advantage of this. There welcome to do so, of course, as long as they don't hamper the evacuation of our own people. But then I don't think they'll get a chance. if you look at the Gloucester evac, you'll see the ship is heavily guarded.
Like you, I have no problem with them. One of my favourite comedians, Dom Joly, is Lebanese.
I don't think Hezbollah will do something as stupid as shoot down a helicopter full of refugees. They wouldn't do what Zarqawi or Al-Qaeda would do. If the victims are Lebanese, it will mean a loss of public suppourt. But if their western, they will be fighting not only Israel. They would only attack westerners if they were part of a direct military interventiuon suppourting the Israelis. They don't want to be dragged into a war with the west that they don't need - they've got bigger fish to fry right now.