Türkiye will begin evacuating its citizens who applied to leave Lebanon, which will take place on Oct. 9 by sea, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
Two Turkish Navy ships with a total capacity of 2,000 passengers are expected to sail to Beirut today, according to the ministry.
It said evacuations would continue in the following days if necessary.
Since Israel launched attacks on its northern neighbor under the pretext of eliminating Hezbollah, more than 1,400 people have arrived in Türkiye by sea.
On Sunday, 26 passengers disembarked from a ferry arriving at the Port of Taşucu in the southern province of Mersin. Among them were Turkish nationals and people of various nationalities who reside in Lebanon, where the conflict has spread as far as the capital Beirut’s suburbs from the Israeli border. Most passengers head to third countries from Türkiye. Mass cancellations of flights due to the conflict have pushed more people to opt for sea voyages.
The Foreign Ministry said the Turkish Consulate in Beirut would inform citizens about the details of the evacuation process.
It also said Türkiye’s humanitarian aid would be transported to Lebanon by the evacuation ships.
According to ministry sources, 2,500 Turkish nationals in Lebanon have applied for evacuation. All applicants were contacted to confirm their final decision, with plans adjusted based on responses received. Consequently, two ships with a capacity of 2,000 people were deemed sufficient for the first evacuation stage.
The ministry will provide assembly points and departure times via message, with the ships set to depart from Mersin to Beirut on Tuesday.
“Tomorrow, our citizens will board the ships and return to Türkiye. Our relevant institutions have made preparations for their immediate needs, such as accommodation, upon their arrival,” the sources said.
Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing more than 1,250 people, injuring 3,618 others and displacing more than 1.2 million people.
The aerial campaign was an escalation in yearlong cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 42,000 people, mostly women and children, since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.
Despite international warnings that the Middle East region is on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching a ground invasion into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1.
Turkish authorities announced last week that they were ready for a possible evacuation of Turks from Lebanon via air and sea and were working with about 20 countries for possible evacuation of foreign nationals via Türkiye. About 14,000 Turkish citizens were registered at the consulate in Lebanon, but the number was not definitive.
The country’s proximity to Lebanon also made it a hub of evacuations. The U.S. State Department said 145 passengers traveled Saturday on two flights organized out of Lebanon. A State Department spokesperson noted that each flight from Beirut to Istanbul could carry 300 passengers, a total capacity of 600.
