Lebanon evacuation crisis deepens as flights cancelled and escape routes narrow
For people trying to flee Lebanon, evacuation now means watching airport boards fill with cancelled flights, while airstrikes land "a stone’s throw from the departures lounge".
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Taylor El Hage, Security Manager of Assistance at International SOS, said Beirut airport remains the easiest way out of the country - but that option is narrowing fast.
An Israeli military campaign in southern Lebanon, including aerial bombardments, airstrikes and drone strikes, has created vast levels of displacement as families flee bombardment.
more than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry, including at least 118 children and 40 health workers. As well, citizens are barred from returning to south Lebanon while Israeli troops control the area.
Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon to stop attacks on northern Israeli communities and push the Iranian-backed militant group away from the border.
“A lot of airline carriers have pulled the routes,” Mr El Hage said. “They might not want to take the risk flying in.”
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While the airport itself has not been hit, Mr El Hage said “airstrikes have taken place really, really close to the runway”, with some of the southern suburbs targeted by Israel lying “a stone’s throw from the departures lounge, from the runway, from everything else”.
For those still trying to get out, whether citizens or foreign visitors, he warned, the pressure is mounting
“Things can go south pretty quickly,” he said.
“That’s why we’ve been telling people to get out while they can.”
If Beirut airport closes, he warned, escape routes become "logistically extremely challenging".
Instead of heading to Beirut airport, evacuees may face long road transfers to ports outside the capital such as Jbeil or Byblos for onward maritime travel.
Alternatively, they could face a lengthy overland journey towards the Syrian border and on to Damascus, or Jordan for easier flights back to Europe.
For some, the only immediate option may be to leave Beirut but not the country at all - relocating to secure locations elsewhere in Lebanon and waiting there until it is safe enough to move again.
But Mr El Hage warned the fear for people fleeing is not just the next airstrike - it is what happens if they cannot get out, and the conflict grinds on around them.
“We really think that this is going to become a protracted and long conflict,” he said.
For the million people displaced inside the country, he said that raises worrying questions about what daily life will look like in the days and weeks ahead
“Are people going to be able to have access to power to clean water? Are essential supplies going to start becoming scarce?" he said.
He said families forced from their homes may face not only the trauma of displacement, but the prospect of shortages, failing infrastructure and a worsening humanitarian crisis.
International SOS is a global security and health services company, is currently on the ground in Beirut, conducting a live assessment of operational risks and evacuation readiness for citizens and international companies.
Israeli troops are expected to take control of a large area of southern Lebanon as part of the country’s campaign against Hezbollah. Israeli officials say the aim is to push the Iranian-backed group away from the border and protect communities in northern Israel from further attacks.
In Lebanon, however, there are growing fears the operation amounts to the start of a wider ground invasion that could deepen the displacement crisis and cut off the south from the rest of the country.