Cyprus on standby to assist evacuations from Middle East

Cyprus has fully activated a mechanism to allow third-country nationals evacuating the Middle East safe passage through the island as the crisis in the region worsens, its government spokesperson said.

So far, no country has sought Cyprus's assistance for a large-scale evacuation of civilians, but Cypriot authorities had facilitated in moving personnel and isolated groups of people through Cyprus in recent days, spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said in a statement.

"We are closely following the situation, fully prepared to support evacuation operations as developments unfold," Letymbiotis said.

Close to 60,000 people from Lebanon were evacuated through Cyprus in 2006, during the last large-scale conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

The island is the closest European Union member state to Lebanon, about 40 minutes by air, and 10 hours away by boat. Last week, Britain and the United States said they would be sending military personnel to the island to assist in any potential evacuations.

Neighbouring Turkey has also said it is on standby to assist in evacuations.

Greece late on Monday said it would dispatch a cargo transport plane to the region at Cyprus's request to assist in the evacuation of Cypriot nationals in Lebanon. There are about 1,500 Cypriots registered there with consular authorities.