The French amphibious helicopter carrier (PHA), which will take “5 to 6 days” to reach the area in the eastern Mediterranean from the port of Toulon, according to this source, is equipped with helicopters and an “onboard battle group” that can be mobilized in the event of evacuation of French nationals, if this were to be decided.
The French amphibious helicopter carrier (PHA), which will take “5 to 6 days” to reach the area in the eastern Mediterranean from the port of Toulon, according to this source, is equipped with helicopters and an “onboard battle group” that can be mobilized in the event of evacuation of French nationals, if this were to be decided.
“We are strengthening our resources to deal with a deterioration in the situation,” a senior member of the army general staff told AFP, specifying that at this stage “there is no question of evacuation of nationals”.
The official did not specify the name of the vessel. France has three amphibious helicopter carriers, the Mistral, the Dixmude and the Tonnerre. These 21,500 ton, 199 meter long ships, a sort of “floating port”, are equipped with a hospital, barges, and can accommodate several hundred people in their hangar. In the spring, the Tonnerre was used to evacuate French nationals from Haiti.
Some 23,000 French or Franco-Lebanese are established in Lebanon. The French embassy has set up a telephone response cell active seven days a week, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot recalled on Monday, traveling to Beirut.
Israel, which informed the United States on Monday that it intended to carry out “limited” ground operations targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon according to the American State Department, established a “closed military zone” around three localities in the north of Lebanon. Israel borders Lebanon.
Hezbollah, whose leader Hassan Nasrallah was eliminated on Friday in an Israeli strike, promised Monday to continue the fight against the Jewish state and said it was “ready” to face a ground operation in southern Lebanon.
Faced with the deterioration of the situation and the suspension by many airlines of their flights to Beirut, the United Kingdom announced on Monday the deployment of 700 military personnel to Cyprus to prepare a possible evacuation of its nationals from Lebanon.
Germany, for its part, sent an A321 military plane to Beirut in order to evacuate “non-essential” staff from its embassy as well as certain nationals considered vulnerable.
Washington has strengthened its military presence in the region, notably deploying the Harry Truman aircraft carrier.
