Border Force staff race to rescue 6,000 Britons stuck in Lebanon

More officers on standby to fly to region amid rising fears of war between Hezbollah and Israel

Border Force officers are being deployed to help up to 6,000 trapped Britons flee Lebanon amid rising fears of a war between Hezbollah and Israel.
Some UK officers have already been sent to Lebanon to work with consular and military staff in helping Britons already seeking to leave the country after appeals to do so by Sir Keir Starmer.
A bigger contingent of Border Force officers are on 24 hour notice ready to fly to the region in the event that Britain has to start evacuating stranded workers and families.
The Prime Minister has also not ruled out deploying troops on the ground to evacuate Britons from Lebanon if necessary after sending 700 extra soldiers to Cyprus.
Government documents have provided an insight on the contingency planning, with the Home Office being asked how quickly Border Force could deploy to Lebanon and whether it had sufficient resources to do so.
Planners also wanted to know whether Border Force could provide 24/7 round the clock processing of passports and travel documents for Britons and their families fleeing Lebanon – and how long they could sustain such an operation.
Border Force officers will be expected to ensure that passports, travel documents and visas are cleared and checked before Britons are allowed to return to the UK – and to provide support for “compassionate” cases of families and relatives who may need special provision to allow them to fly to Britain.
During the Afghan evacuation, Border Force also played a key role in security checks against watchlists and databases to ensure that no potential terrorist or criminal exploited the situation to enter the UK without the right to do so.
Chloe Lewin, a 24-year-old freelance journalist from London who is based in Beirut, Lebanon, told BBC News that it was not possible to book commercial flights out of the country. “Keir Starmer’s telling everyone to get out but we can’t,” she said.
“You can’t get out this week because they’re [the flights] all full and every time you get to the last page of the booking, it just crashes and it says you can’t book a flight. And then people I know who have had flights, they’re all getting cancelled. My friends were meant to leave this morning on Egyptair – that got cancelled, so they can’t get out.”
She said the British embassy had told them to “get out” but it was “not helping” stranded Brits. “They’re not helping us so we can’t,” she said. “There’s nothing we can do.”
Rita El Kassis, 48, has a UK spouse visa and lives in London but is in Lebanon caring for a sick relative. She told The Independent that the British embassy in Beirut informed her that “there is no plan” to get Brits out.
“I’m trying not to panic but I have called the embassy and they said ‘there is no plan’,” she said. “I had a search online yesterday and the only alternative flight available was a business-class flight for £4,600 to Dubai. I would then need to book another flight to London.”
She said she and her family have discussed getting a flight from Turkey, but that first means an eight-hour taxi through Syria.
Anne Bouji told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme that the embassy had not made it clear whether British nationals could bring family members who do not have visas or British passports. She has lived in Lebanon since 2017 with her partially paralysed Lebanese husband, Simon.
“The government decision to evacuate has not clarified whether family members would be allowed to travel with British nationals,” Mrs Bouji said. “So I don’t know whether I could take my husband with his Lebanese passport only if a visa was available or not.”